WIEDERGEBURT Act II Chapter 25

The secret passage that Hreidmar had used to escape from the mountain palace of Hovebrann was, to put it bluntly, a maze. There were so many passages that neither Kari or I knew where we were going. We were relying entirely on Hreidmar, who continued to race down one passage after another, sometimes turning into a lateral passage and other times continuing straight.

“How much further do we have to go?” asked Kari as she and I ran beside the stout Dwoerg. Erica and Tungsten were a little further behind us. I could hear their armor clanking together at our backs.

“Not much further,” Hreidmar said, huffing. His legs were shorter than ours, so it took more effort for him to keep running. “It’s just a little further.”

I didn’t know what he meant by a little further, but we did eventually reach the end of the long series of winding tunnels. A doorway sat at the end. It was locked with a strange mechanism that Hreidmar tapped buttons on. I didn’t know what kind of lock that was, but it clicked upon unlocking, and our companion pushed the door open.

What lay on the other side was a staircase. We went up the darkened room, guided only by the light Kari had summoned, and soon reached a blank wall—or so it seemed.

“This passage leads inte the throne room.” Hreidmar placed his hands on a tile that was sticking out further than the rest and depressed it. A soft rumbling resounded within the small room as the wall withdrew to reveal the back of a gilded throne. “Come. Let us not waste time here.”

We exited the passage and stepped into the large receiving hall, which appeared to be a more massive version of the throne room in Jordiskger, but with more decorations. The throne itself was an impressive piece of architecture that seemed to have been made with gold. The columns lining either side of the room were equally impressive. As I looked up and stared at the ribbed ceiling, I saw even more motifs and designs etched on them.

However, I didn’t have time to admire this room.

We were not alone.

“I had wondered why the Dwoerg suddenly attacked after years of scurrying about and hiding,” a voice, deep and rumbling like distant thunder, boomed. “So there are a couple of humans and a half-breed. What an interesting bunch.”

I wondered how it was that we hadn’t noticed this colossal figure standing beside the throne until now. This Sekbeist, another Warlord type, literally took up an entire third of the elevated platform upon which the throne sat. His rusted armor was covered in scars and pockmarks. The battle damage to his armor was secondary to his height and bulging muscles. He glared down at us with bright red eyes.

“I wish everyone would stop calling me a half-breed,” I muttered with a frown.

“Is that really what you should be worried about?” asked Tungsten.

“You haven’t had people constantly calling you half-breed for the past several days without telling you why,” I muttered bitterly.

“I’m guessing you are here to use the Warp Gate,” the Sekbeist said, grinning at us. His tusks made that grin into something ferocious and forboding. “But I have no intention of letting you use it. The five of you and those Dwoergs fighting outside shall all perish on this day.”

“Perish?” Hreidmar snorted as he readied his battle axe, holding it in a two-handed grip, with one hand on the lower half and the other up near the axe head. “I’d like te see ye try, Orurk the Overlord Slayer. Ye might have been able to slay Lord Goldemar, but that was only because ye had caught us unaware and he was already injured from his battle against yer master. A pathetic cretin who can’t fight in a fair confrontation is about as big a threat as a Snug.”

Snugs were tiny creatures that resembled balls of fluff. Their most notorious feature was their large mouths and big tongues, which they used to lick people. I’d seen some Dwoerg children playing with them back in Jordiskger. The biggest danger they posed was of the tickling variety.

Orurk snorted, black fumes of strange miasma blowing from his nose. “Do not think your insults will have any effect on me, little Dwoerg. I am not so foolish that I would lose myself to anger over the words of a foolish king whose equally foolish race refuses to realize they have been bested.”

Anger radiated from Hreidmar’s trembling body. I could sense that he was seconds from attacking, so I stepped in front of the man and glared up at the massive figure of Orurk.

“So the half-breed steps forward.” Orurk grinned down at me. “Are you offering yourself up as a sacrifice? You should know that it doesn’t matter what you do. All of you shall perish today.”

“You and the rest of your kind keep calling me half-breed.” I narrowed my eyes. “Do you know what my other half is?”

“Obviously.” Orurk rolled his eyes, and then held out his hand, gathering dark energy around it, which soon transformed into a massive halberd. He swung it out, unleashing a powerful gust of wind that blew my hair from my face. “But just because I know what you are does not mean I’m going to tell you. If you don’t know yourself… well, that’s just too bad.”

I glared at Orurk, but I could tell from how he spoke that he wasn’t going to give me the answers I wanted. His arms and legs were shaking. It was barely noticeable, but it was there. I’d sensed it before, but now it seemed obvious.

These Sekbeists were afraid of my other half, the half that wasn’t human.

Before a standoff could really take place, Erica and Tungsten rushed forward, prompting Orurk to attack with an overhead slash. The two darted away from each other as the halberd slammed into the ground between them. Cracks formed as the stone floor collapsed. After breaking apart, the floor was consumed by that dark energy, disappearing as if something had eaten it.

The two Spiritualists remained undeterred as they closed the distance. Tungsten spun around several times, his battleax glowing a bright green, while Erica swung her glowing red claymore into the creature’s leg.

“GRAAA!!”

Her attack had struck the back of Orurk’s left knee. It forced the knee to bend, knocking him down into a bended stance. Sadly, because her sword had dug into the Sekbeist’s flesh, she was having trouble pulling it out.

During this moment, Tungsten completed his spinning and tossed the battleax, covered in a ferocious aura of wind, at Orurk’s face. It didn’t cut into him. Orurk raised his sword to block the attack. However, the force behind the strike was enough to knock the monster on his ass.

“Damn mythril weapons!”

I didn’t notice it until now, but the Runes on Erica’s and Tungsten’s weapons and armor was glowing the same way the Dwerogs’ had. It seemed these Runes created some kind of effect. I knew they would do something, but I was wondering what sort of effect these ones had. Even with the knowledge I possessed on Runes, I honestly couldn’t figure them out.

“HAAAA!”

As I stood there, Hreidmar leapt into the air, his own armor and weapons also glowing a fierce golden color much like the material they were made of. He slammed his battle ax into Orurk’s chest with all his might. The loud reverberation was followed by an incredible shockwave as the ground beneath Orurk cracked. Even Kari and I were forced to bend our knees to absorb the shock from the impact.

We waited for a moment to see if that attack had done any damage. However, just when it looked like Hreidmar’s attack had felled Orurk, the Sekbeist raised a massive hand and slammed it into the Dwoerg King. Hreidmar flew off his foe and crashed into a pillar, which collapsed around him, burying him in a pile of rubble.

“I forgot how annoying Dweorg weapons and armor could be,” Orurk said as he stood to his feet. “But it doesn’t matter if you can negate my darkness. I’ll crush you all the same. Now come! I shall destroy you all right here and now!”

The halberd made of dark energy appeared again, and Orurk swung the weapon hard, the air unleashing a violent shriek as though it was experiencing pain itself. Erica and Tungsten quickly dodged the attack by running between its legs. However, the halberd released a massive wave-shaped attack that barreled toward Kari and I.

“Get behind me!” I shouted.

Kari stepped back while I stepped forward, raising my hand above my head. I gathered a massive amount of Spiritual Power into the Dragon’s Tail Ruler, which began crackling with a combination of lightning and water. Getting the timing down, I swung my weapon just as the wave of darkness was going to overtake me.

The wave was split in half.

“Tch!” Orurk clicked his tongue as the two halves of his attack flew off his separate directions. One struck a wall and the other destroyed a pillar. “I suppose I should gave expect that from a half-breed. Your powers are every bit as annoying as the purebloods of your kind. I’ll take great pleasure in crushing you.”

“You’re welcome to try,” I offered.

At this, Kari and I both rushed forward while Erica and Tungsten attacked each of its legs together. They slammed their claymore and battleax respectively into Orurk’s armor. He must have forgotten they were there. His mouth opened in a loud, agonized and angry yell as their weapons dug into his flesh.

No longer able to hold himself up, he fell forward, but that was when Kari and I attacked. We stood on the ground where he was going to fall. My weapon was drawn into my chest, where it began glowing with white and blue energy. The combination of water and lightning caused a strange effect to occur, which looked like the area around my weapon was distorting. Meanwhile, Kari spun and twirled her ranseur around to generate a Spiritual Technique powerful enough to match mine.

I thrust the Dragon’s Tail Ruler forward at the same time Kari stabbed out her ranseur. From my weapon, a great flash of light and energy erupted and coalesced into a massive, cone-shaped beam of crackling bluish white power. Kari’s Spiritual Light Technique, a golden beam nearly just as big, the Divine Buster Canon, merged with mine to create a tri-colored attack that slammed into Orurk.

“NNNNGGGGRRRRAAAAA!!”

Despite being forced onto his knees, Orurk had been able to get his halberd up in time to block our attack, but even with that, our Spiritual Technique, a combination of three elements, continued to push against him. His teeth were grit behind snarling lips. The veins on his arms bulged as he struggled not to get pushed back. Yet as he continued to fight against our technique, bright lines of white spread along his weapon, until at last it shattered. At the same time, he had protected himself long enough for our technique to run out of power.

“Ha… ha… I’m not going to let myself be killed by pathetic, lesser beings. I’ll murder every last one of you! This is the end,” Orurk growled. Despite this, he had fallen onto his hands and knees.

“Yer right. This is the end!”

Just as this voice rang out around us, a figure dropped from the ceiling. Hreidmar, who must have been waiting for an opening after Orurk tossed him into that pillar, landed on the Sekbeist’s back and swung his battleax down with a warcry that reverberated around the interior. His blade didn’t meet any resistance this time. It struck Orurk on the head, piercing through his skull and sending blood spraying all over the place.

Hreidmar didn’t even seem to care about the blood coating his armor. He removed the ax again, and then swung it down again. The ax glowed vibrantly even while covered in blood as it penetrated even deeper than before.

Whatever Sekbeists were, whether they were creatures from another world or invaders from beyond the nine worlds, an axe to the skull was enough to kill it. Orurk didn’t even release a death cry as his arms gave out and he fell to the ground. Hreidmar removed his ax from the corpse’s head and leapt off, landing on the ground.

“I feel like it’s getting easier to kill these things after each fight,” Erica said while taking several deep breaths.

“Maybe fer ye humans,” Hreidmar grumbled as he looked at the dead Orurk. “Humans have an unusually high capacity for growth. Part o’ the reason the nine races visited Miðgarðr when the Sekbeists attacked the nine realms is because of that high growth potential. Honestly, if it weren’t fer yer small lifespans, ye humans would be the strongest o’ the nine races.”

That was news to me, but I didn’t even know what the nine other races were yet besides Dwoergs. It was something I would have to ask Hreidmar about after we returned home.

“In either event, I think we should open the palace gates,” Kari suggested.

Hreidmar grunted. “A good idea, if I’ve ever heard one. Let’s not dawdle any longer.”

I took one last look at the cooling corpse of Orurk before turning toward the throne room’s exit and following after the others.

***

The next five days passed with relatively little problems—for a group of Spiritualists hoofing it through the Demon Beast Mountain Range, I mean. There had been no more attacks on my person, though Finn continued to glare at me with hatred in his eyes. I was fairly used to jealous looks by this point. That didn’t bother me.

Even so, I wouldn’t deny that I kind of wished he would attack me so I could catch him in the act and deal with him accordingly. Last time I had been attacked, I’d been too surprised to put up a fight, but that wouldn’t happen now that I was on my guard. Of course, all this was based on the supposition that he was my attacker during that first night. For all I knew, I could be completely off base.

After traveling through the valley, known to many as the Pteranodon Valley due to the Demon Beasts who hunted there, we moved across the grasslands.

The grassland was just a plain with grass taller even than myself. It was hard to see through and easy to get lost in for the unwary. Catalyna had prepared a chord that she had each of us grab ahold of so we wouldn’t accidentally end up separated from each other. It was a good idea, though it came with a small problem.

Demon Beasts.

Like the rest of the Demon Beast Mountain Range, the grassland was home to a variety of different demon beasts. There were Dire Wolves, a C-rank Demon Beast that hunted in packs; Leonids, a large feline Demon Beast with massive paws and sharp teeth, also a C-rank Demon Beast; Giant Horned Rabbits, which were a D-rank Demon Beast that were the same height as a full-grown human adult. Of course, all these Demon Beasts were small fry. The true threat was the B-rank Demon Beasts who made this grassland their territory.

Chimera.

Which we had the misfortune of running into, though considering how it ended, I couldn’t say we were really unfortunate. I suppose it depended on who you asked.

We first realized there were some problems when the screams erupted from ahead of us. It was impossible to see anything because of the grass, but the chord we were holding suddenly became slack. That was the second sign of trouble.

“Let’s hurry!” I said to Kari, Fay, and Lin. All three of them nodded as they readied themselves. Kari spun her ranseur, Fay smacked her gauntlets together, and Lin produced a venomous-looking purple wip. Meanwhile, I already had the Dragon’s Tail Ruler in hand.

The four of us rushed up the chord and burst into an area that had been cleared of grass barely a second after that. Of course, the reason the area had been cleared wasn’t because no grass was growing there. A massive creature standing on four legs, with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and a serpent's tail was attacking Catalyna, Marko, and her group. Powerful legs swatted several Spiritualists aside. The muscles on its back rippled as it moved, twisting its head and spewing fire all that burned the grass to cinders. Catalyna, Marko, and Fin—the heavy hitters—were trying to sneak in behind it, but that serpent's tail spat black venom at them, forcing them to dodge.

“Lin! Hit it from a distance!” I shouted. “Kari and Fay, attack from the sides! I’ll hit it from the front!”

All three girls acknowledged my orders and split off.

Lin moved further from our group and lashed out with her whip, which extended beyond what its original length entailed and smacked the Chimera across the face. A loud hissing erupted as the venom made from her Spiritual Power burned the Chimera, leaving a nasty-looking scar across its left eye. The Chimera howled and glared at her, but it had more things to worry about.

I rushed forward and leapt into the air, high over the creature’s head. Channeling my Spiritual Power through the Dragon’s Tail Ruler, I swung the weapon, which didn’t look like it could reach. However, the segments suddenly unlocked and flew apart, turning into a weapon that looked like the tail of a dragon, held together by my Spiritual Power. The tip of my massive sword soared down from the air in an attempt to pierce the creature’s head, but it must have sensed my attack because it leapt back, letting the tip of my ruler slam into the ground with a resonant explosion of power.

Unfortunately for the Chimera, it had been so focused on mine and Lin’s attacks that it didn’t even see Kari and Fay until it was too late. Kari came in from the left, her ranseur glowing as she twirled it around her body. She sliced into the creature with the blade of her trident-shaped spear. An agonized howl erupted from the Chimera as its head jerked back, blood gushing from its eye and staining the ground. While it attempted to retreat, Lin launched her whip forward again, wrapping it around the Chimera’s neck and using her weight and Lamia-given strength to keep it from moving.

That was when Fay came in and took it down.

She arrived barely a second after Kari, twisting her right fist into her torso as she moved her hand in a rotational pattern. With the creature’s head being dragged low by Lin, she had the perfect shot, and the moment she’d stepped in so close they were nearly face to face, she launched her attack. The explosion of fire that erupted from her fist went straight through the creatures left eye and out the other side of its head. When the spiral-patterned flame dispersed, I could see a large hole that went clear through its head as I landed back on the ground.

“You know, a Chimera has the same ranking as a Giant Svart,” I said as Kari, Lin, Fay, and myself regrouped. “Taking it down means you girls are strong enough to take down the creature that attacked us the first time we arrived.”

The three girls looked excited, though I was positive Kari was the most excited and Fay the most relieved. Lin crossed her arms with a haughty expression as she thrust out her chest.

“Of course we defeated it with ease. There’s no way this princess would be done in by something so easily.” Despite her words and actions seeming arrogant, the way her tail thumped against the ground gave her away.

“I’m really surprised,” Fay admitted as she eyed the now dead Chimera. “I expected a B-rank Demon Beast to be tougher.”

“You girls have been training really hard this past month,” I told her. “Not only that, but you’ve been using the alchemy pills I’ve refined to help naturally boost your Spiritual Power and physical prowess. While you are still a ways off from being able to beat an A-rank Demon Beast on your own, you’re more than capable of fighting a Demon Beast of this level.”

“I’m glad to see all that training has paid off.” The excited sparkle in Kari’s eyes had yet to diminish, but the relieved smile she wore let me know her true thoughts. “I don’t want to see a repeat of what happened last time.”

“Me neither,” I admitted.

“You four!” Catalyna shouted. She, Marko, Finn, and the 13 other Spiritualists all ran over and began to crowd around us. “That was… amazing! Seriously now. How have you all gotten so powerful? I’m pretty sure Fay wasn’t nearly this strong when we fought in the Spiritualist Grand Tournament!”

The other Spiritualists apparently agreed.

“That was seriously amazing!”

“You four are so strong!”

“I think I understand now! You guys are like the power group!”

They heaped words of praises on us, telling us how great we were, how strong we were, how they wished they could be that amazing. I wasn’t exactly modest, but I also didn’t like playing up my own abilities. I tried to accept their praise with a smile and a “thank you”, but I never got the chance to say anything.

“YEOWCH! MY TAIL!!”

Lin’s furious scream—so furious she didn’t even refer to herself as “this princess”—echoed all around us as someone stepped on her tail. The next thing I knew, Spiritualists were flying everywhere as the girl used her 6 meter long tail as a bludgeon weapon.

That had been the beginning of our special treatment. From that moment on, even Catalyna began deferring to us. I understood why, of course. Nevaria was a city-state where the strong were revered, and we had just proven ours by taking down a Demon Beast that most normal Spiritualists had trouble dealing with, with relative ease. At the same time, even if I understood it, that didn’t make their treatment of us easier to deal with. I also ended up being glared at by Finn and Marko even more, though Marko was at least more discreet.

After exiting from the grasslands, we came upon a jungle, a humid forest with a very tropical climate. The trees of this jungle were twisted and gnarled, bending in shapes and ways that trees in a normal forest didn’t bend. Moss covered most of the trees while vines hung from the branches. The ground beneath our feet was soggy, sucking our boots in and forcing us to expend more effort when pulling them out. Several Spiritualists nearly lost their footwear that way.

Almost immediately after entering the jungle, most of us burst into a thick sweat as the humid air clung to our clothes and skin. I avoided this by circulating the water element through my body, but Kari and Fay complained about the heat and were even tempted to strip off their armor, which was a bad idea. The others were much the same. Only Lin seemed to like the environment.

I wasn’t surprised since Lin was a Lamia, a cold-blooded creature who absorbed heat from the environment. She also wasn’t wearing that much. The wrap around fabric that covered her breasts really only covered her chest and some of her back. It didn’t even cover all of her chest. The only other item was the skirt that kept her modesty intact. So even though she did sweat a little, she wasn’t overly bothered by it.

The jungle itself was a harsh place filled with more Demon Beasts than even the grassland, but we made it through after two days of travel. I don’t think I’d ever seen so many Spiritualists sobbing in relief before.

And then, finally, the night of our fifth day arrived.

***

It was late at night. I was on the night shift. Catalyna had told me there was no need for me to take a night shift, but Kari, Fay, and even Lin told her that we would take our shifts just like everyone else. We didn’t want any special treatment.

I had just relieved Lin, who was now snuggling with Kari and Fay. I would have liked to stay in the tent and snuggled with them, but I also understood now wasn’t the time. As I stood beside the fire and activated Spiritual Perception, I kept my eyes open for any sign of a Demon Beast attack, since Spiritual Perception would only alert me if a Demon Beast B-rank or above was nearby.

While I was keeping lookout by the fire, Marko came up to me, his expression serious and stern. He was my partner for this nightshift.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

“Yeah, something is wrong.” The frown on his face increased. “I’ve been keeping this in for awhile now because I didn’t want to cause Lin trouble, but there’s no way I can hold this in anymore. I know you mean a lot to her, but I want you to stop seeing Lin!”

“That isn’t your choice to make,” I responded in a mild voice, but that just seemed to make him angry.

“You don’t even need her!” he spat. “You already have Kari and Fay! Isn’t that enough? How many more women do you plan to sink your teeth into?!”

I wanted to sigh, but I did an admirable job of holding it in. “You say that as if the idea of courting all three of them was mine.”

“Wasn’t it?!”

“No, it wasn’t.” I responded with a flatout denial. Marko, however, scowled at me with obvious disbelief. “You can choose to believe me or not, but the truth is the idea of having me court all three of them was actually Kari’s, not mine. Furthermore, Lin and I are connected.” I held up my hand. Even with just the firelight, the roselike ring around my ring finger, the Mark of Marji, was visible. “Lin gave this to me several months ago. It is sort of like a marriage ring among Lamia, and as far as I know, it’s impossible to remove.”

“What’s your point?” asked Marko. “You saying I should let that little thing stop me? I’m not gonna give up on her!”

“Listen you.” I finally sighed as my irritation began reaching its peak. “I’m saying it doesn’t matter how hard you try. You can flirt with her for the rest of your life. She’ll still never return your feelings. What’s more…” My eyes finally narrowed as I released some of my Spiritual Pressure, which emitted from my body in visible waves that caused Marko to take a wary step back. “Lin is mine. I love her, and I refuse to give her up.”

Marko’s scowling face had turned a bright red, a vibrant hue the color of blood. He opened his mouth. I could tell he was seconds away from snapping at me.

He would never get the chance.

In that moment, a powerful Spiritual Pressure washed over us.

“What… what is that?” Marko asked, eyes widening as he twisted his head around like he was searching for the source of that immense power.

“I don’t know.” I narrowed my eyes as I grabbed the Dragon’s Tail Ruler and pulled it from the ground. “But I’m going to find out. You stay here in case something happens.”

I didn’t give Marko time to argue with me as I took off, using Spiritual Perception to follow the Spiritual Power to its source. Whoever was releasing that Spiritual Pressure could be in danger. What’s more, it had a very strange feel to it. When I used Spiritual Perception, it didn’t show up as a color. It was completely clear.

I had never seen a colorless Spiritual Signature before.

After traveling for several minutes, I picked up a strange glow that was emanating from between a line of trees. There was no sound coming from the other side. What did that mean? What was this glow?

I crept toward the light, careful not to make a sound. When I reached a tree thick enough to hide my body, I steadied my breathing and looked around it.

There was a small clearing on the other side. The light came from a series of glowing sigils on the ground, Runes, which several people in rusted and dingy armor were standing around. As I continued to observe these people, three of them caught my attention.

The first was the cloaked man kneeling before the Runes. I could see nothing of him. His… or maybe her… entire body was covered from head to toe in a dark cloak. However, their boney, skeletal hands were placed on the circle and I could see Spiritual Power running from the hands to the Runes.

Next to the man was a figure I knew from having defeated them in the Spiritualist Grand Tournament finals. Torgny Leucht stood with his battle ax resting against the ground, hand on the pommel. His back was turned to me, so I couldn’t see his face, but I recognized him from his armor, stature, and unique Spiritual Signature.

Tearing my eyes from Torgny, I looked into the center of the Runic Circle, and then I froze. My eyes grew wide and my heart seemed to stop, but then it picked up and began beating rapidly in my chest.

The person inside of the circle, kneeling on all fours as she released several pained howls that didn’t sound human, was none other than Dyr.