WIEDERGEBURT Act II: Chapter 12

It was hard to measure the passage of time when the sky never changed. The bloody crimson smeared across what appeared to be a black canvas was a constant in this world. Because of how difficult it was to gauge how much had time had passed, we took naps when we were tired, ate when we were hungry, and continued moving as much as we could.

I wouldn’t say we learned a lot about this world during the time we spent there, but we did learn that there was far more to worry about than just those strange creatures we’d fought the day before. There were far more deadly monsters out there. We had run across everything from tiny creatures filled with deadly venom to giant monstrosities that looked like nothing more than a mass of writhing, black tentacles. Each creature was deadly in its own way. We soon learned that some of the creatures were easily on par with A-rank Demon Beasts. A few of them might even be strong enough to contend with S-rank Demon Beasts.

There wasn’t much to eat in this arid land. We had been forced to subsist on the creatures we killed, which tasted awful. It was a lot like eating tar. The four of us were barely able to force our meals down every time, and in fact, we waited until we were so hungry that we didn’t even care what our food tasted like before eating.

Our time spent in this place was hellish, so terrible that the appeal of being in another world had even worn off on Kari. However, our situation would soon change.

“We’re being followed,” I said as the four of us walked through what appeared to be a desert, though this one was different from the Endless Desert in our world. There were no dunes of sand. The ground was cracked, dry, and covered in rocks and the skeletal remains of creatures we didn’t recognize.

“How many?” asked Erica, not pausing in her walk.

I cocked my head to the side and used Spiritual Perception to locate each of our followers. “There are twelve. It’s quite the large group this time.”

“Is it those monsters again?” asked Tungsten.

“No.” I shook my head. “Since I can sense them, it means they can’t be those monsters. For whatever reason, I can’t sense the presence of those creatures. These might be Sekbeists.”

Sekbeist. That was the name Zadram had called himself, not Cult of the Great Overlord, which was the name we’d given them because they’d been taking people into ruins and sacrificing them. We’d just assumed they were sacrificing them for the Great Overlord. Now that I’d had the chance to identify one of them, I knew we were wrong.

Kari, walking right beside me, was dragging her ranseur against the ground, making trails in the dirt. Her golden blonde hair was a smudge dirty like the rest of us, but she didn’t seem troubled. She stared straight ahead with a gaze sharper than any blade.

“How should we do this?” she asked.

“It looks like they’re just observing us right now.” I frowned, wishing my Spiritual Perception would allow me to know more than just their location. It was even worse in this place because my senses were all messed up All I could see were a few flickering flames of Spiritual Power. “I can’t even sense any killing intent in their actions, but…”

“I say we just confront them,” Tungsten suggested. “Nothing is going to change if we just let them be.”

“I suppose not…”

“In that case, please leave this to me.” Erica smiled as she made all of us stop, and then turned around to face where I had sensed the presences. “I do not know what you people are hoping to accomplish by stalking us, but I would suggest you come out right now before things get ugly.”

Her words didn’t seem to have any effect at first, but just when it looked like Tungsten was about to unleash a Spiritual Technique on our observers, several figures emerged from behind rocks and boulders.

They were not Sekbeists.

These people were short and stocky, appearing almost like child-sized humans. Some of them had flaming red hair, others had brown hair, and still some had blond hair. Most of them possessed thick beards. That said, there were a few who were clean-shaven. Their clothing was a bit worn and ragged-looking, but the sturdy armor they wore appeared pretty tough. They were covered in runes that seemed to glow brightly with Spiritual Power. One thing I noticed was that while all of them were carrying weapons of some kind, none of them were holding them in a hostile or battle ready position.

“These are not Sekbeists,” I announced.

“Course we’re not,” a man with long red hair and a thick beard said as though he’d been insulted. “We’re nothin’ like those monsters. What kinda people do ye take us fer?”

“We’re sorry,” Kari said with an apologetic smile. “We didn’t know there were other people in this place aside from Sekbeists.”

“Ye be otherworlders, then?” The small man stroked his beard as he looked them over. He frowned at me for a moment, but then shook his head and continued. “We already knew ye be from another plane, but we didn’t know yer intentions. That’s why we kept our distance—fat lot of good that did.”

I wasn’t much of a conversationalist when it came to dealing with new people, so I let Kari step forward and handle the talking. Erica and Tungsten also seemed content to leave this matter to her.

“Do you think you could help us?” asked Kari. “We aren’t really sure how to get back to our world, and we don’t know anything about this one.”

“Aye, I suppose we could.” The small man scratched his head. “However, this ain’t no place to be talkin’, and I ain’t really the best person to talk to ‘bout these things. I recommend ya come back to our village and speak with our chief. He knows a lot more than I do.”

The four of us shared a look as we tried to determine whether or not we should follow this little man and his group back to their village. It could be dangerous. At the same time, we all recognized that we really didn’t have much of a choice. We couldn’t keep wandering around in this wasteland forever.

“I believe we will take you up on that,” Kari said with a smile and a slight bow. “Thank you.”

“Sure,” the small man grunted. “Just follow us.”

Still unsure about our situation, these people, and whether or not they would be able to help us get back home, the four of us joined up with the group of strange, short men and set off again.

***

They sat around a crackling fire. The heat it gave off should have been comforting, but Kari still felt a chill crawl over her body, even though she was sitting directly in front of the fire.

It had been several hours since they were attacked by the B-rank Demon Beast. During that time, Kari, Fay, and Lin had been fairly listless. Ever since Eryk had fallen into that ravine, it was like their minds had shut down. That didn’t mean they were helpless. Following the instructions of Mikkel, they had managed to establish a campsite for the night. Their backpacks had fortunately survived the attack, and their sleeping bags were all placed together next to a large boulder. Even so, all of their actions felt inorganic.

Kari was cognizant enough to recognize that she was in shock, but she couldn’t muster up the strength to do anything about her emotional disposition.

For the past several months since she’d known him, Eryk had seemed indomitable. He was confident, strong, and capable of going toe to toe with some of Nevaria’s greatest Spiritualists. To her, he had seemed invincible. Seeing him fall into that ravine had been a great shock to her. It felt like a lightning bolt had struck her heart, rendered it numb, and refused to let her feel anything.

“I knew this was a bad idea,” Fay murmured beside her.

Lifting her head from its place on her knees, Kari glanced at Fay, who appeared every bit as distraught as she was. Her eyes were hollow and red. Unlike Kari, who had been so shocked she couldn’t even shed a tear, Fay had cried for nearly an hour after Eryk’s fall. It had been, surprisingly, Lin who pulled the girl back to her feet. Kari felt like that should have been her duty, but she just couldn’t muster the strength.

“What?” Kari asked.

“We should have never come here,” Fay said.

Kari wanted to deny that, but at this moment, she agreed. Coming to the Demon Beast Mountain Range wasn’t worth what she had lost.

Her three brothers were sitting on the opposite side of the fire as them, not speaking. Geirolf had made a rude comment about Eryk a few hours ago and was now nursing a black eye. She barely even remembered punching him, though she did recall the rage she’d felt at his callous words. Fay had also kicked him while he was down. Her words “your the worst” had likely wounded him deeper than any physical punch.

Finally, Mikkel stirred. “We’ll stay here for the night, and then I think we should go to Nevaria tomorrow.”

“What?” Kari looked up.

Mikkel wore an apologetic smile. “We ran into a really terrible case of bad luck. B-rank Demon Beasts like the Giant Svart shouldn’t even be this close to Nevaria. Given how unusual this occurrence is, I believe it would be safer if we return home.”

“No.” Kari finally felt a surge of emotion well up within her like fire flooding her veins. “Absolutely not. We are not going back.”

“Kari…” Mikkel began, but she shook her head.

“We’re not going back… until we find Eryk.”

Mikkel’s expression hardened. “Be reasonable, Kari. Eryk fell into that ravine. Even if he managed to survive the impact when his body hit the water, it’s very likely that he drown when the rapids swept him away. I don’t want to say this, but I don’t think even someone like Eryk could survive a fall like that.”

Kari stared at her brother in uncomprehending disbelief, though the expression only lasted for a moment before anger overcame her. She clenched her hands into fists as she tried to remain calm. However, there was a storm within her mind that kept her from being able to retain any sense of composure.

Whap!

Before she could give words to express her anger, a tail shot out and slapped Mikkel across the face. The tail belonged to Lin. Much like Kari, her body appeared to be shivering in rage as she glared at Mikkel with tears in her eyes.

“How dare you even think something like that,” Lin hissed. “There is no way Darling would die from something a simple fall.”

Mikkel rubbed his cheek, now sporting a bruise, though he didn’t appear angry at Lin. On the contrary, his expression was quite soft. He seemed more sympathetic than anything.

“I don’t want to believe it either, but we should at least recognize that his chances of surviving that fall are very slim,” he said.

“But they aren’t zero,” Fay muttered, finally looking more closely at her surroundings. Her eyes were more focused. “It is possible that he did survive.”

“Well, yes.” Mikkel shrugged as he admitted this. “However, the chances of him surviving that are—”

“I do not particularly care about what you say his chances are,” Fay interrupted. “If there’s a chance that he could have survived, then I know he will survive. I’ve trained with Eryk and seen what he can do. I know his strength better than anyone.”

“Fay,” Kari muttered in surprise. It looked like her friend had also finally recovered from the shock she’d experienced. The redhead was looking at Mikkel with a clear fire in her eyes, an unbending will that wouldn’t be broken by what they had all just witnessed.

Mikkel did not look like he necessarily agreed with her, though he also didn’t disagree, which kept him from speaking out. On the other hand, Geirolf looked upset at something as he stared at Fay. The only one among the three brothers who appeared calm was Earland.

“I believe Eryk Veiger is still alive,” the eldest among them said.

“Earland?” Mikkel and Geirolf both glanced at him in surprise.

He nodded at them, and then said, “Eryk Veiger doesn’t strike me as the type to just roll over and die. I suspect he is still alive. Rather than return to Nevaria, I believe it would be in our best interest to begin searching for him tomorrow morning when the sun is out.”

Mikkel looked like he wanted to argue, but Earland was not only the oldest among them, he was also the most powerful, and power was respected above all else in Nevaria. After looking at his older brother for a moment or two, he released a defeated sigh.

“Oh, very well. Tomorrow, we will begin searching for Eryk Veiger.”

His words caused the three girls to smile at each other. It wasn’t much, but they at least had a clear goal now. Find Eryk. While Mikkel and Geirolf might have been skeptical about his survival, Kari, Fay, and Lin were certain he had survived. The man they had fallen in love with would not allow himself to be killed so easily.

***

When I woke up, my body felt cold, as if I was standing on a snowy mountain peak. I realized after opening my eyes and discovering myself lying on my stomach that the reason for this was because I was half-submerged in water. My lower half was lying in a river, gently bobbing along on the water’s surface.

Groaning as I climbed to my feet, I surveyed my new surroundings, noting that my new location was no longer inside of that ravine. It looked like I was in another forested section. There were a lot of trees located off the shoreline of the river. Further down, I could hear the sound of rushing water, so there must have been a waterfall somewhere around here too.

Kari, Fay, and Lin were nowhere in sight.

I placed a hand to my face as I recalled what happened, crossing the bridge, the B-rank Demon Beast showing up, getting the others to safety, and then falling down the ravine after I killed the Giant Svart by using an attack that took all of my Spiritual Power. I wondered if maybe I shouldn’t have used to much. I had used all of my Spiritual Power because I had realized that it was stronger than me, but now that I wasn’t panicking, I was pretty sure I could have killed it without doing that.

“Well, we all make mistakes,” I said to reassure myself.

Since I had no clue where I was, I decided to travel up the river, which I believed would take me back to the ravine. After using the water element to suck the moisture from clothes, I began walking.

While I didn’t know where I was, I recognized that the area I found myself in was much more dangerous than where my group had entered from. Aside from the D and C-rank Demon Beasts, there were also quite a few B-ranks, including a giant snake Demon Beast that I didn’t recognize at first.

It had burst out of the forest and tried to swallow me whole. I leapt back using the Flash Step to gain a distance of several meters, and then studied the creature. It was a massive serpent with a crystalline body, about 12 meters long, and had skin that shifted and changed color as it moved to better match its environment.

A Chameleon Snake.

I took a deep breath as the snake eyed me. This thing’s elemental affinity was water. That crystalline body that could change color to match the environment was a result of the water in and around its body bending the light, which meant unlike that Giant Svart, this Demon Beast had an elemental weakness that I could capitalize on.

The Chameleon Snake lunged at me again, striking faster than I would have thought possible for a creature of its size, but I used the Flash Step to avoid it. Appearing on top of the Demon Beast, I placed my hand on its body. Then I channeled a massive amount of lightning directly into it.

Nothing happened.

“Tch!”

I leapt back as the Chameleon Snake tried to throw me off, landing on the ground several meters away, I eyed the thing with a frown.

“That water is too pure for lightning to conduct electricity,” I said with a groan. “This is just great.”

If I couldn’t just zap the creature, then it meant I would need to find some other means of dealing with it. That said, it didn’t look like the Chameleon Snake was going to give me time to create a proper strategy. It attacked me again, lunging forward and forcing me to dodge its gaping maw of a mouth. After I dodged its initial attack, the beast tried to surprise me by swinging its tail, though I saw it and was able to barely avoid having it crush my skull.

The issue of the water surrounding this Demon Beast being too pure to conduct electricity was a problem. While my physical body was certainly strong, it still wasn’t strong enough to contend with a B-rank Demon Beast—not with just my strength. Using my elemental affinity against it was my only option.

As I thought about my elements, dodging a tail that came at me from above by leaping away, I remembered that lightning wasn’t my only affinity. I also had a water affinity.

A new plan formed in my mind. I watched the Chameleon Snake as it lunged at me once more, but I didn’t try to dodge this time. Raising my right hand, I pointed my index and middle fingers at it, and then circulated my Spiritual Power through my Spiritual Pathways. The smooth flow became a powerful surge filled with static, which I pushed out my fingers. A small but highly focused beam of water and lightning surged out, penetrating the open mouth of the creature and puncturing a hole through its soft insides.

Because I was mixing my own water element into the attack, I used my water to taint the water surrounding the beast, further damaging it with the lightning. Arcs of electricity skittered inside of its body, which soon turned black. Smoke poured from its mouth, nose, and ear holes. Then creature thrashed and shuddered, and then it died.

I took a deep breath, held it, and then released it.

That had been a little easier than I thought it would be.

As I suspected, that Giant Svart had been an anomaly among B-ranks—I hoped.

I studied the creature lying before me with a frown, and then, wandering up to it, I created a sword made of lightning and cut into the creature’s soft underbelly. With the Chameleon Snake now dead, its Spiritual Power was no longer circulating through its body. That meant the skin had become soft. My blade sliced through the stomach all the way to the tip. After which, I peeled the flesh back and began searching for the monster core.

After all, it would have been a waste to fight a B-rank Demon Beast and not take its core.

I soon found the monster core near its throat. Reaching in, I pulled the core out and held it up to my face. Like most Demon Beasts with a water affinity, the core was blue. However, this one was a pale blue bordering on white.

Pocketing the monster core in my pouch, which I was glad to see hadn’t been torn off during my trip down the river like my backpack, I continued my journey. There were a few more Demon Beasts around that tried to attack me. However, most of them were C-rank Demon Beasts like Dire Wolves, Svarts, and the plant-based Demon Beast Buchu Buchu. After killing that last one, I cut off several of its leaves. I planned on making a repellent to keep the Demon Beasts away from me.

The sound of falling water soon reached my ears. I cocked my head and listened. It sounded like there was a waterfall somewhere up this way. Following the river, I soon reached a large waterfall that was probably about 15 or maybe even 20 meters tall. A fine spray of mist fell over most of the area, giving this place a mystical atmosphere. Several small pools were located around the waterfall.

Someone was already there.

It was a girl who looked to be about my age, bathing in the river. Her brown skin was unusual in Nevaria, where everyone was pretty white outside of those who had a slight tan from spending so much time outdoors. As she washed herself off, rubbing her breasts that were halfway between Fay’s and Lin’s in size, I noticed her dark nipples stiffening. She must have been cold. Water glistened as it trailed down her bare body, which was submerged up to her waist.

As I stood there, wondering what in the nine planes someone was doing in the Demon Beast Mountain Range alone, two small tufts of hair on her head twitched several times. She froze. Then she turned around and faced me.

“Who is there?! Who are you?!”

I raised my hands in an “don’t attack” gesture. The girl didn’t bother covering herself up as she glared at me with a look of suspicion, but I just gave her an awkward smile in return.

“I’m sorry for walking on you while you were bathing,” I said. “My name is Eryk. I got separated from my friends while we were exploring the Demon Beast Mountain Range.”

“Oh, so you’re not with Skygge?” The girl tilted her head.

“Who is Skygge?” I asked in return.

“I guess you could say he’s my temporary handler… maybe?” The girl seemed to ponder her own words for a moment, but then slowly shook her head. “Well, whatever. My name is Dyr. It’s nice to meet you Eryk.”

This girl’s guard relaxed soon after greeting me. She seemed like a very open and naive girl. Of course, I was judging my assumption based on how she didn’t even seem to question what I was doing here.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” I said.

This girl appeared friendly enough, though I was suspicious of anyone who would be out in the Demon Beast Mountain Range alone—oh! But then again, she did say she’d been with someone named Skygge. That meant she must have been separated from her group like I had been.

While I was pondering the girl, Dyr seemed to have finished washing up and stepped out of the pool and onto dry land. She didn’t even bother covering her naughty parts. Thanks to that, I could see a small patch of brown fur just above her pussy. I also noticed, almost absently, that her finger and toenails were both longer than normal and pointed, making them resemble claws.

“So what are you doing out here, Eryk?” asked Dyr as she threw on a dark brown dress that reached her knees. Since she was still wet, the dress clung to her body and bared the curves of her ample chest, but she didn’t seem to care. Wasn’t she cold?

“I’m searching for some ingredients,” I told her. “I was heading over to Nymph Lake because I need Water Nymph Bone Marrow, and then I need to get some Four Tongue Clovers.”

“I don’t know anything about those Four Tongue Clovers, but there’s a lake with Water Nymphs just a little ways that way.” Dyr pointed off in a direction passed the waterfall. “I can take you there if you want? There’s not much I can do right now since I don’t know where Skygge is.”

“Hmm…” I thought about her offer, which really was tempting, but I had to shake my head in the end. “While I would love to go and get the bone marrow now, I really can’t. I’m sure my companions are worried about me, so I need to find them before I do anything else.”

“Companions, huh?” A sudden change came over Dyr. It was like a slightly melancholic aura had appeared around her, which made the smile she wore seem sad. “It must be nice… having companions you care about so much.”

“Is Skygge not your companion?” I asked.

Dyr shook her head. “No, I wouldn’t call us companions. It’s more like I’m a… a tool.”

“A tool?” I furrowed my brow.

“Yes.” Dyr nodded. “I’m like a tool, something he and the others use for their own purpose, but, well…” She offered a helpless shrug. “I don’t think any of them see me as a companion.”

I frowned just a bit as this girl’s words tugged at my heartstrings. While I knew some people who used others for their own convenience, most of the individuals I knew cherished and valued the people they worked with, but it sounded like none of these people thought of her as anything more than a tool, not even a person. There was no way I could stay silent after hearing that.

“Then… would you like to come with me?” I asked.

“Come with you?” Dyr frowned at me.

I shrugged and said, “it doesn’t sound like those people really care about you, so why don’t you come with me? I’ll introduce you to my friends.”

Dyr cocked her hips at an angle and crossed her arms, which had the effect of pushing her breasts together, though she didn’t seemed to care that I could see her nipples poking through the fabric. I waited patiently as she thought about my offer. Fortunately, the wait wasn’t long before she smiled.

“I’ll go with you. Thank you.”

“Then, Dyr, it will be a pleasure working with you.” I smiled at her.

“Yeah!” Dyr responded by giving me a smile so wide her eyes were forced shut.