WIEDERGEBURT Act III: Chapter 37

I soon learned that the woman who saved me wasn’t anti-social so much as shy. She’d gone for so long without human contact that she no longer knew how to act around her fellow humans. Her manner of speaking was also stilted, like she couldn’t decide what to say, and several times during our conversations she would backtrack and try to correct herself.

She never took off her cloak, not even when she was sleeping. I was not sure if she did this because I was there, or if she always wore that cloak, but while I was curious to see what she looked like underneath it, I held myself back out of respect. This woman had saved my life. I owed her that much.

Despite having a lot of questions for her, as time went on, I slowly forgot them. Did it matter if I knew who she was before the Demon Beast Invasion? Would knowing her identity change anything? I didn’t think so.

“You…”

One day while I was sitting on a rickety chair and staring at the rain outside of the cave, the cloaked woman called out to me, only to stop. I turned my head to gaze at her. The cloak covered everything. I could see nothing, not even her chin. All I glimpsed was the vaguely outline of her face as it was cast in shadow.

“Yes?” I asked.

The woman was by her alchemy set again, same as always. She spent most of her time there. I didn’t know what she was refining. I knew very little about alchemy. Truth be told, I didn’t really care about alchemy either.

“It’s nothing,” the woman said before quickly busying herself with her work. She was once again separating alchemy ingredients by their type. They were the same kind of ingredients she had used the last time. While there was a part of me that wanted to ask, I ended up not saying anything.

A stifling silence filled the air, but neither of us did anything to break it. The rain stopped during this time. As sunlight parted the clouds, I stood up, causing the cloaked woman to look in my direction.

“I’m just going to train,” I said.

I think the woman nodded, but I honestly couldn’t tell.

“I see,” was all she said before turning back to her task.

Walking out of the cave, I glanced around at the still wet ground, which had turned to mud in some places. I carefully picked my way down the mountain this cave was located on. Several trees to either side swayed slightly, their leaves glistening with droplets. The scent of wet dirt and plants tickled my nose. It was not an unpleasant smell, but it didn’t bring me any peace either.

There were still Demon Beasts that I needed to kill.

I still needed to kill the Great Overlord of the Seventh Plain.

This mountain was located in the north-east part of the Demon Beast Mountain Range about five days travel from Nevaria. The woman who rescued me had literally carried me on her back from Neveria to here. I was grateful and impressed by her strength. Not many people could trek through this kind of dangerous wilderness while lugging someone else’s dead weight.

I eventually found a clearing that I believed would suit my purposes. It was somewhat small and surrounded by trees. The ground was still damp and the grass was slippery, but so long as I remained conscious of that, I wouldn’t fall.

The first thing I began doing was moving my body, testing it out to see how well I had healed. For whatever reason, I couldn’t heal using the water element right now. Whenever I tried to circulate my Spiritual Power, I suffered from incredible pain. It wasn’t unbearable, of course, but it did keep me from being able to concentrate.

I adopted a basic brawling stance and began throwing several punches. One. Two. I cut the air with my fists, only to wince slightly when I realized moving also caused me some pain. At first I thought it was because I had been bedridden for several days, but I soon realized that was not the case when I pulled my long sleeves back.

My arm was covered in black bruises. It looked like someone had soaked a needle in ink, jabbed me in the arm, and pushed all the ink from the needle into my body. The strange purplish-black coloration of my skin looked hideous.

Perhaps it was instinct that caused me to begin circulating my Spiritual Power through my body, but either way, the moment I tried to heal myself, my body was wracked with incredible pain. It was like my insides were being slowly burned away by my own Spiritual Power. I could feel my Spiritual Power building up inside of me with nowhere to get, like a dam was keeping it from properly flowing through me. Unbearable heat spread through my body. It would have been less painful if someone dipped my hand in acid.

My legs wobbled as I fell onto my hands and knees. I tried to maintain my balance, but my vision suddenly went black, and the next thing I knew, I had fallen face first into the grass. Blinking several times as spots appeared in my vision, I told myself that I needed to get up, that I needed to keep struggling.

As I lay there and struggled, my consciousness slowly slipped away and the world turned black.

***

We did not pass through the Pteranodon Valley as I assumed we would. That was just a stopping point to orient ourselves.

After waking up early the next morning, Herleif led me west of the Pteranodon Valley and had us wander through a vast region made of canyons. The escarpment on either side was so high up I could barely see the tops. It looked like this canyon had been carved out of the earth by water, which I could tell because of how smooth the walls were. Several different types of sediment were present as well, lending the escarpments a more colorful aesthetic.

The Demon Beast Mountain Range was a massive expanse of land, and the terrain constantly shifted between a variety of different types: Deserts, forests, swamps, mountains, valleys, canyons, and everything in between. It was unlike anything else in the entire world. There was no place within the rest of the world that contained such a myriad of different environments.

Despite how easy it seemed to get lost, Herleif seemed to know exactly where we were going. After emerging from the canyon, we entered a dark forest with trees that were twisted and deformed to look like sentient creatures writhing in agony. The canopy over our heads was made of thousands of branches that entwined together and blocked out all sunlight.

This particular section of the Demon Beast Mountain Range was a lot deeper than I’d been since coming back to the past. The Demon Beasts were far more powerful here as well. All of them were at least B-rank, but there were also many A-ranks. A lot of Chimeras inhabited this forested region. There were many different types as well, from Lion-headed Serpents to Bipedal Panther Goats—both B-rank Demon Beasts.

The Lion-headed Serpents were long serpentine creatures with the head of a lion. Most of them were about 10 meters in length, but there were a few that reached up to 20 meters. Their scales were incredibly tough to break. Even I needed to punch them several times to break through their strong defense. Of course, I always used the Dragon’s Tail Ruler in conjunction with the lightning element, which allowed me to cut through them with ease.

Herleif had been shocked when he saw me slice a Lion-headed Serpent in half with a single swing of my weapon.

Bipedal Panther Goats were an unusual breed of Chimera that walked on two goat-like legs, featured a human-shaped torso and arms, but had the head of a panther. Their fangs were filled with poison. What’s more, they had the ability to create earth spears. They had a very strong earth affinity and it seemed a minor affinity for darkness, which was how they created the poison. Fortunately, their defense was not that strong.

“BRAAAAAAH!!”

I clicked my tongue and jumped to the left as an earth spear shot from the ground and tried to impale me. Skipping across the ground, I stopped several meters from where I had been and eyed my opponent.

The Bipedal Panther Goat glared at me with glowering red eyes as if enraged that I dodged its attack. It brayed several times and stomped on the ground, creating more earth spears that tried to skewer me.

As I dodged the spears, weaving left and right, I sent my own Spiritual Power into the ground. Ever since I acquired the ability to use the earth element, I’d been slowly becoming more intimate with it, and while I still didn’t know how combat ready it was, I figured practicing on a B-rank Demon Beast would help increase my proficiency with it.

By channeling the earth element through my feet and into the ground, I could sense the shifts in the earth, which allowed me to know when and where the next attack was coming from. I moved left as a spear tried to impale from behind. Another spear came at me from the side, but I twisted my body to avoid it. Several more came in at different angles. However, I stomped on the ground and disrupted the Spiritual Power controlling them. The spikes dissolved into mud.

The Bipedal Panther Goat released more angry braying noises and stomped its feet on the ground. Its nostrils flared.

I decided I had practiced enough. It was time to end this.

Kneeling, I placed my hand on the ground and channeled my Spiritual Power through the earth, watching as all the dirt slowly coagulated near my hand. I lifted my hand. The earth rose with it. A small pillar formed on the ground, about three or so centimeters in diameter and maybe a meter long, which I grabbed with my left hand and pulled. What I removed from the ground was actually a spear.

My muscles stretched taught as I pulled the spear behind my head before throwing it forward. It flew from my hand at a speed the Bipedal Panther Goat couldn’t keep up with, though it tried to dodge anyway. Still, it was futile. The spear pierced the skin of its shoulder, blood spilling from the wound like a broken fountain.

The Demon Beast released a pained braying sound as it took to a knee, raising a hand to its now punctured shoulder. I clicked my tongue. Kneeling on the ground again, this time I sent my Spiritual Power through the earth and toward the Bipedal Panther Goat. I smiled in satisfaction when several earth spears suddenly erupted from the ground and skewered the goat, which released several pained whimpers before it died.

Ignoring the bloody scene of a Demon Beast hanging from dozens of earth spikes, I stood up and looked at where Herleif was fighting against a Chimera with the head of a goat, the body of a lion, and a snake head for a tail.

The old man was awfully nimble. He wove left, then right, and then left again, avoiding the claw swipes from the Chimera, which were coated in a viscous purple fluid—poison no doubt. I watched his feet as he shuffled along the ground. He had a surprising amount of grace. It was almost like he was floating across the ground instead of walking.

Spiritual Power soon welled up around Herleif and the Chimera, extending outward to encompass the area around them. I blinked when several fire spears suddenly came to life behind the Chimera. Externally projecting an element like that showed how skilled this man was at manipulating and controlling his Spiritual Power.

Even as I thought this, the man made a gesture with just his fingers, like he was asking the Demon Beast to come closer. What actually happened was the fire spears suddenly flew at the Chimera from behind. They blasted straight through the creature’s body, piercing its back, legs, stomach, and neck.

Smoke rose from the Chimera’s body as its fur caught fire. The scent of burning flesh and hair follicles filled with air and made me grimace. As the fire spears dispersed, several holes suddenly appeared on its body, but they didn’t leak blood. The wounds had been cauterized. With a pained whimper, the Chimera took several stumbling steps forward before it fell to the ground and lay there, unmoving.

“That wasn’t too hard.” Herleif clapped his hands as if ridding them of dirt before turning to me. He looked at the Chimera I had killed, then shook his head. “And here I thought I had a handle on the situation. I’m impressed you can kill a B-rank Demon Beast like that so quickly.”

I shrugged. “Once you reach the Third State of Spiritualism, B-rank Demon Beasts don’t pose much of a threat.”

“Very true. Still…” As we began moving again, Herleif eyed me with a speculative gleam. “No matter how many times I see it, it’s still a shock to see you use the earth element.”

I had told Herleif about how I could use the earth and darkness elements, though I didn’t tell him it was because I had a spiritual connection with Lin. My connection to her was a secret I’d rather not reveal to anyone except Kari and Fay. It was something intimate that I shared only with them. However, it was important that Herleif knew what I was capable of since we were traveling together.

“I’m still not very proficient with it, though,” I said, shrugging.

Herleif snorted. “The fact that you can use an element you’re not supposed to be aligned to at all is what’s shocking. As I understand it, you had a dual-affinity for water and lightning, which is rare enough that I only know one person who also has a dual-affinity. Now you have four affinities. That is simply unheard of.”

I couldn’t deny that it was indeed unheard of. Even I was shocked, but I also understood how it happened. Kari had given me her element in my previous life that time she laid dying in my arms. Her kiss had contained traces of her blood, which had unlocked my ability to use the light element. When Lin bit me during the time I rescued her while she was stuck in the form of a snake, she injected some of her blood into me. I wouldn’t be surprised if she also took in some of my blood.

When I got back, I’d have to see if she could use my elements.

But that was a thought for another time.

***

It took several days before we emerged from the forest. It wasn’t just the distance that caused it to take so long; it was also the number of Demon Beasts we had to contend with. Even if they were only B-rank, fighting against several Chimeras and other monstrosities each day really did take a long time.

Once we had emerged from the forest, our travels took us across several valleys that were much bigger and far more dangerous than the Pteranodon Valley that Catalyna had us pass through so many months ago.

I couldn’t judge how large these valleys were, but they were set between two mountain ranges that were so tall snow capped their peaks. The valley looked like just another valley, albeit, much bigger than anything else I had seen. Most of it was covered in grass, but there were a lot of Demon Beast copses sprawled across the vast landscape. I also noticed a river that flowed through the middle, which fed into a large lake at the very center of the valley.

As I stood at the entrance to the valley with Herleif, I glanced at one mountain in particular. It was taller than all the others, so tall that I couldn’t see the top as it disappeared into the clouds. Mount Himmellyn. It was the mountain I had climbed to train my lightning element on.

At the highest peak of that mountain was an S-rank Demon Beast, the Giant Horned Lightning Eagle. Back then, I had viciously battled this creature and nearly died. Our battle had lasted six days and nights, exhausted nearly all of my Spiritual Power, and forced me to overdose on alchemy pills. The only reason I even won was because our battle had turned into one of attrition and the Giant Horned Eagle did not have pills to recover its Spiritual Power like I did.

I wondered how a battle between us would work now?

“Is something the matter?” asked Herleif when he noticed how quiet I was.

“No.” I shook my head. “Nothing is wrong.”

“Then let’s be off. We’re still quite a ways from our destination.”

I nodded in acknowledgment and followed him down into the valley.

Journeying across the valley wasn’t terribly difficult at first. All the Demon Beasts we ran into were B-rank such as Giant Weasels, Mastiffs, and Bugbears, which were massive humanoid creatures with greenish-yellow skin and powerful muscles.

They were the hardest of the Demon Beasts to fight, with strong bodies and the ability to use landforms as weapons. Their elemental affinity was earth and water, which allowed them to manipulate plant life. By grabbing something simple like a tree branch, they could transform it into a powerful club with a spiked end, and each swing of their club caused the air to shriek.

Of course, while they were incredibly strong, I was fortunately stronger. My body had been enhanced and refined with grueling physical training supplemented by Body Forging Pills. The increased durability of my body and my strength were such that I could stand toe to toe with Bugbears in melee combat, though I’d never be so foolish as to test my limits when I was on a mission. Most of the time, I killed Bugbears from a distance with the lightning element, which they were weak against.

The only real issue we ran into while traveling through the valley was when we were forced to face off against the A-rank Demon Beast, the Giant Fresh Water Serpent.

It happened while we were skirting the edge of the lake. We were using the river to keep ourselves on track. As we walked along the lake near the shore, something burst from the water, creating a massive wave that towered over us.

While Herleif tried to run from the wave, I stomped on the ground and created a large wall with a sharp point in front of me. The wave slammed into the wall and was cut. It split in two and moved around me. I only removed the wall after the wave settled down.

That was when I saw it.

The creature that towered over me as it sat in the water must have been at least a hundred meters long. Glistening blue scales covered its massive body, beautiful to look at as they scintillated in the sunlight. However beautiful it was, I knew better than to underestimate this creature, which had a serpentine muzzle filled with massive and sharp teeth. Looking into its yellow eyes, I sensed an intelligent that even a B-rank Demon Beast didn’t possess.

“It’s a Giant Fresh Water Serpent!” Herleif shouted in shock. “What is it doing here? I didn’t run into it when I came through here last time!”

I wondered if it had maybe sensed my presence and that was why it revealed itself, but I didn’t care to dwell on it for long. This beast was something that I needed to take care of.

“Step back and let me handle this,” I said to Herleif.

“Are you sure you can take on something like that by yourself?” asked the old man.

“I’m positive,” I said with a confident smile. “Just stand back and watch.”

I didn’t give the man a chance to respond as I bent my knees and launched myself into the air. I used the Flash Step Version 2: Jump Step to ascend higher and higher.

Of course, the Demon Beast didn’t have any intention of just letting me do that. It's tail rose from the water and tried to smack me out of the sky, but I created a platform to my left and kicked off it, dodging the attack before I continued ascending. It wasn’t long before I was above its head.

Channeling my Spiritual Power to create a platform above me, I twisted around and struck it feet first, then pushed off and launched myself at the Giant Fresh Water Serpent. I spun around and extended my leg, which suddenly exploded with crackling blue arcs of lightning. The Demon Beast was so large that even if it tried to dodge, there was no way I’d miss.

My foot struck the Giant Fresh Water Serpent on the head. A loud explosion crackled from where my foot dug into its skull, breaking the hard scales protecting its skeleton. I narrowed my eyes as blood spurted around my heel. The damage was not as extensive as it should have been. What’s more, I could sense Spiritual Power running through this creature’s body, and there was a very thin layer of water resting against its scales, protecting it from my attack.

Its affinity must have been incredibly high. This Demon Beast’s water was so pure that it didn’t conduct electricity.

I leapt away as several spikes made of water appeared on its skin, threatening to impale me. Once more using the Flash Step Version 2: Jump Step, I raced through the air as the Giant Fresh Water Serpent opened its mouth to unleash several projectiles. Each projectile was composed of condensed water about the size of my body. Each projectile had enough power packed into it to kill a normal Spiritualist.

With my eyes narrowed, I created a platform under my feet and pushed off, soaring straight for the projectile aimed at me. Spiritual Power exploded from my body as I activated the Third State of Spiritualism. Now transformed into lightning, I streaked toward the projectile, shot straight through it, and struck the Giant Fresh Water Serpent in the head again. While the thin layer of incredibly dense and extremely pure water managed to protect it last time, this time I was using too much power. I traveled straight through the Demon Beast’s head and out the other side, slamming into the water, which caused a cascade of sparks to erupt as a massive geyser rose into the sky.

As I broke the surface, I turned to look behind me as the Giant Fresh Water Serpent fell back into the water with a great splash. A wave rose up as I was swimming and overtook me. Despite this, I held my breath and used my own affinity with water to ride the current all the way back to the shore. I landed on the ground, sopping wet, but I quickly used my Spiritual Power to suck the moisture from my body and clothes, drying off. As I did, Herleif walked up to me.

“I can now see why Hilda holds you in such high regard,” Herleif said while shaking his head. “Even I wouldn’t dare to fight an A-rank Demon Beast of that caliber on my own. I’ve never met anyone as strong as you.”

“Thank you for the compliment,” I said as I turned toward the lake. I stared into the waters with narrowed eyes as they settled down.

“What are you thinking about?” asked Herleif.

“One of the key ingredients for the Elemental Enlightenment Pill is the monster core of an A-rank Demon Beast. Giant Fresh Water Serpents also have a lot of other parts I can salvage such as the skin, blood, eyes, and even their bones and organs.”

“You want to salvage this Demon Beast now?” asked Herleif in disbelief.

“Why not? We’re already here,” I said. “The Morkdypt Ravine isn’t going anywhere.”

“That’s… well, you do have a point.” Herleif scratched the back of his head and sighed. “I guess spending a few days here won’t hurt.”

“Thanks,” I said.

Making a big show of rolling up my sleeves, I prepared to salvage every bit of the Giant Freshwater Serpent that I could.