PreCursive

Chapter 269 - Tomb of the Lost

“Oh fuck,” I whispered, struck by the sight of the skull. Though I had spoken as quietly as I dared, my voice still echoed through the enormous hall I’d found myself in. The expletive bounced off the walls and returned to me endlessly, making me wince from the choice.

Fuck…

Fuck…

Fuck…

I felt like I’d just defiled a tomb. Not just from the words.

But from my mere presence.

I took a shuddering breath to calm my nerves, and inspected the inside of the…coffin, I suppose.

The interior of it was padded with what, to my eye, looked to be cushioned plastic of some kind. More than anything else in this…thing, it had held up the best over what must have been centuries of degradation. Still, it was fraying at the seams, and underneath it, I could see what appeared to be extremely advanced circuitry. Something far more advanced than anything that would have been found on Earth. The electronics appeared to snake their way all through and underneath the rusted metal shell of whatever this was.

Looking closer at the entire thing, and doing my best not to focus on the occupant, I could see that there was a kind of control station set to the right of each tube. Set on it was what looked to be a…flat screen panel of some kind. When I reached out and cautiously tapped it with one ungloved finger, I couldn’t tell if I was disappointed that it didn’t light up under the digit.

Or relieved.

Finally, I screwed up the nerve to examine the…remains. I looked up, and met the empty sockets of the skull once more. Considering my previous experiences with the undead, and my luck, I had almost expected to see an eerie blue glow in those hollow recesses. Thankfully, nothing had changed.

That…well, that certainly was a skeleton alright. The resting place of this poor soul was tilted back far enough that the bones lay nearly flat upon the frayed cushions, maintaining an eerily familiar humanoid figure. Human male, if I had to guess, if only by the shape of the hips.

I knew at least a little bit of anatomy.

The bones themselves looked to be eerily stripped clean, in a manner that I didn’t think occurred naturally. If this person had died and decayed in a normal manner, I would have expected at least a little bit of evidence of ligaments to have survived. Maybe even a few scraps of skin or highly leatherized muscle. But no, this skeleton was cleaned to an uncanny degree, nearly resembling a holiday prop. There were no markings on the bones to indicate that this might have been done by scavengers either. He had to have been naked at the time of his death, too, considering I saw no fragments of clothing anywhere near him.

Attached to the skull there was one thing, however.

What looked to be a silicone medical mask was still strapped to the skull, even if nothing else remained.

I stood there for a few minutes, simply staring down at the ancient corpse lying in his fated coffin and pondered it all.

It looked like I had found the first mystery of this particular bunker, beyond its eerie trap, degraded state, or torturous prison.

What had happened here? Was it even possible to find out?

I would just have to continue my explorations, I suppose. A thought struck me then, prompted by my core ring. I stepped away from that particular coffin and cast my gaze over at the one adjacent to it. Sure enough, there was another one inside, this time female, also stripped bare.

And then the next contained another. And the next, and the next, and the next.

Until I came upon a curious sight.

In the next metallic coffin, I found a much shorter skeleton. For one dreadful moment, I thought it might be the remains of a child. But no. After a closer inspection, I was startled to realize that the structure of this skeleton was much too broad to be that of a human child. It was stout, broad, and the form of it was altogether familiar to me.

This was the skeleton of a dwarf.

There were more than human remains in this hall.

…what else was in here? I picked up my pace at that question, casting gazes at the…‘pods’ as I did so.

Human, human, dwarf, human, dwarf, dwarf, human, human.

And then I stopped, because there was something I had never seen before. This was a skeleton that was even smaller than that of the dwarves I’d found. It was shorter, and yet more slender. Once again, I almost mistook it for that of a human child. But it couldn’t be. The limbs were shorter, the torso was longer, and the head was enormous in comparison to the rest of the body.

This wasn’t what I had been expecting. I had thought there might have been elven corpses in here as well, if there were dwarves. There still might be, now that I thought about it. I didn’t actually know anything about elven physiology. Some of the human skeletons I had found just might belong to the ‘knife-ears’, as Azarus called them.

But this.

What was this?

A short conversation I’d had with Grey last year sparked to the forefront of my memory. He had been telling me about the collective war that the peoples of Vereden had waged against the Calamity known today only as the ‘Sea Beast’. How in that time, there had been a fourth species upon the surface of this world, who had birthed the creature into being through reckless experimentation upon Primes. How they had ultimately met an untimely fat at the claws of that beast, and been wiped from the face of Vereden.

The people he could only refer to as ‘The Lost’.

I gazed down at this oddly proportioned skeleton and felt a shiver run down my spine. Was this one of those people? I have to say, I had known they’d been small, but I hadn’t been expecting them to be even smaller than dwarves.

I had to take a step back and cast my gaze around all of the capsules around me in astonished horror. I was surrounded by them on all sides, neatly arranged in wide lanes. From where I was, there had to be nearly fifty of them on each side, stretching all the way to the wall. That then extended for maybe…I don’t even know how long.

Miles? There could be miles of these pods down the length of the hall. Maybe it was only the dark, nearly strobing crimson light in this room. But I couldn’t see the end of it, no matter how hard I tried.

There had to be thousands of these coffins in here. No, tens, maybe hundreds of thousands.

And all of them, each and every one…

Contained a corpse.

A creeping sense of dread crawled down my spine. This was…monstrous. Evil on a scale that I don’t think anyone could reasonably conceive of.

Who would do something like this? What had these people even been here for? What was the purpose of these pods?

I…didn’t know.

It was as I was examining the Lost skeleton that I heard it. For a moment, I didn’t understand what I was hearing. When the realization hit me…

A shiver went down my spine anew.

That…that beeping sound…

That was something nearly anyone who had grown up in a modern Earth culture would recognize.

That almost sounded like the steady blip of an EKG machine.

There was…there could be one of these pods still active, down here.

I stood stock still for a moment, frozen in indecision. Should I…should I try and find it? Was one of these people still alive, after all that time?

No…I had to find out. If there was still a living member of the bunker people down here, then maybe they could give me answers. Maybe they knew what was going on not only with this bunker, but with Vereden.

Maybe they knew about Precursors.

I focused, concentrating on my hearing. The noise was faint, extremely so. I think it was only because of the absolute silence in this hall that I could hear it at all.

But…I think I could follow it.

Carefully, I stepped forward, following the source of the beeping further into the hall.

Beep…beep…beep…

Farther to the right. I adjusted my course, and wound my way through among the capsules of the dead, slowly closing in on the sound.

Beep…beep…beep…

Deeper and deeper I wandered in search of the origin. I must have gone nearly half a mile by now, but the sound of the beeping had grown noticeably louder. I was close, I was sure.

BEEP…BEEP…BEEP…

And then, all at once, I found the source.

There was a door set into the wall of the hall. A sliding kind, constructed of the same precisely machined steel as the rest of the bunker. Only…

The corrosion didn’t seem to have reached it. Yes, it was half destroyed, I could see that. The door was nearly shut, leaving only a sliver of width open from which the sound could escape. Exposed wiring was visibly poking through the surface of both the door, and the panel next to it.

But none of the rust and pitting visible through the rest of the structure was there.

Something about that…it struck me as important.

I had stopped at the sight of it, but I shook off my sudden sense of apprehension. Cautiously, I approached the nearly wrecked door and examined it.

I sighed. “I’ll need to force it open,” I said to myself quietly. I don’t even know why. It’s not like there was anyone around to speak to.

Except the dead, I suppose.

Carefully, I activated Might of the Wyrdwood at ten percent and set my hands around the doorframe. With my enhanced strength, it wasn’t hard for me to force the sliding door back into its recess. However, it caused an unholy cacophony as I did so. The tortured screech of metal on metal filled the air, echoing up and down the length of the tomb I had found myself in. I cringed at the noise, but didn’t let it stop me.

Before long, the door was open. Now yawning before me was darkness, pure and deep. No light, crimson or otherwise, pierced through that gloom.

But the beeping did.

BEEP…BEEP…BEEP…

I needed light to see what was causing that, and I suppose I had a few options. My Sprite would produce a bit of light, but it would be relatively weak, and a constant drain on my Mana at that.

Maybe I should have insisted on learning an actual General Skill for light after all.

More than a year later, and that was still popping up.

Damnit.

I was going to have to produce a light Spell of my own. The ignition of a single, tiny Spell like that would only require an insignificant amount of Mana, which is why I suppose they were so popular. But it would take me a few minutes of concentration in order to actualize the required Mana.

I repressed a sigh and closed my eyes, falling into the core of my Soul in only moments. After my lessons with the Elder, I was well used to this by now. Even if it was time-consuming.

A handful of minutes later, I opened my eyes and held out one palm facing the ceiling. Carefully structuring the required thought forms, I let the Mana I had so carefully gathered fill the grooves of that structure.

And ignited it with my Mana.

A star of pure white light blossomed to float above my palm. I spared myself a brief moment of triumph at the successful casting and stepped forward.

Into the darkness of the room.

Instantly, I was able to tell what this place was. It could be nothing else than what it seemed.

A laboratory.

A massively advanced one, at that.

It wasn’t a large one, I could say that at least. Maybe about seven hundred square feet in total, it was roughly rectangular in shape. Both walls of the room were lined with old, decayed cabinets, their doors halfway hanging off of the recesses. Below them were table spaces upon which only dust remained, no instruments or objects to be found. I would say the room was modest, but that would betray the single most important thing I could see in here. Something just barely visible from my position near the door.

A reflection. On the far end of the room was a single, intact pane of glass set into a tall, upright, cylindrical object.

One of the pods.

Undamaged.

The beeping was coming from that direction.

BEEP…BEEP…BEEP…

I advanced cautiously into the room, kicking up clouds of dust as I did. I nearly tripped over something on my way towards the capsule, so focused on it as I was. Looking down, I saw what looked to be a…microscope, I think. If not a massively advanced one. The thing was nearly broken in half and held together by only a few strands of wires. Looking closer, I could see that the floor was littered with scientific equipment of all kinds, all of it clearly broken. I suppose this is where everything that had been on the shelves ended up.

I shook my head and disregarded that, taking another step forward.

Before long, I stood before the capsule at the end of the room. This close, the beeping was oddly loud. It rang in my ears as I gazed at the pod in a mix of curiosity and dread.

Unlike all of the other pods, this one was visibly still intact.

And still working, at that.

This close to it, I could feel that it was unnaturally cold standing next to the capsule. The glass was frosted over, quite literally, and I couldn’t see into it at all. I couldn’t tell if there was an actual person inside of this apparent…cryo-pod of some sort.

The notion that something of that manner was actually possible was a bit of a shock to me. I thought those only existed in the realm of fiction back on Earth.

I shook that off and looked down at the intact screen to the right of the cryo-pod. It too was still in tact, and to my excitement, it came alive when I touched it.

The screen light up, as bright white as my active Spell. The layout of the panel…something about it reminded me of the computer from back in Hollow Hill. The user experience design seemed to have been birthed from the same principles. However, it was much simpler.

On the glowing surface of the screen, there was only two buttons. One blue, and one green. I…had not idea what either did. Snaking its way above the two buttons was the familiar sight of a single line, undulating in steady waves. The pulses lined up perfectly with the beeping noise that echoed, somewhere, somehow, from the sides of the panel.

BEEP…BEEP…BEEP…

Hopefully, one of these buttons wasn’t a kill switch or something. I really didn't want to murder whatever poor person was stuck in this tube. Out of options, I reached out and put a finger on the blue button.

The reaction was immediate.

If not what I was expecting.

The frost on the surface of the glass immediately vanished, allowing me to see the contents of the cryo-pod. When it did, I felt my heart skip a beat in my chest.

Someone was in this tube, all right. But not just anyone.

There was a little girl inside.

……………………………….

AN:

Hoo boy. There are two ways I’m prepared to take this, and I’m honestly unsure of which I’d prefer.

Guess I’ll just have to wait and see as the chapters come to me to make a decision.

<<Chapter 268 | Table of Contents | Chapter 270>>

Chapter 268 - Breaking the Rules

I had no way of knowing just how long I spent, trying to bore my way through the walls of this prison. I couldn’t even count the number of identical cells I slipped my way into, like a questing snake in search of freedom. I had to have been going for…hours, days even.

Maybe weeks? I…

I just…couldn’t tell time anymore.

I eventually became so good at using Poisonthorn Shot in such an unusual way that I could manifest the thorn without ‘shooting’ it. I held it now almost like it was a pen in my hand, used to burrow through rusted, corroded steel.

Eventually, though, I…stopped.

I just stopped everything I was doing to stare blankly forward at the next wall that I had been set to dig into. I was too tired to continue. I had nothing more left in my body to keep going.

No will.

No strength.

No hope.

And in that stillness where I had come to a halt, I finally heard it. It was like there was a voice, just outside of the range of my hearing, whispering almost inaudibly in my ear. There were no words, at least nothing that I could recognize. It urged me onward, whispering the concept of poisonous, false hope. If only I continued onward, I would surely escape from this endless Hell. The exit would come eventually, it whispered.

But…

That wasn’t true, was it?

This…was this even real?

No…

This was a maze.

I was being influenced by something, wasn’t I? I hadn’t even realized, because it wasn’t targeting the usual source. Whenever I’d been subject to mental influence in the past, it had always been my core ring that saved me. Normally, it was protected by the shield of my outer ring. But not this time.

Now, it was my core that had been affected. Something had slipped right past my outer to worm its way in, to cast a spell over my inner self.

Clever, in a way. But whatever this was, it couldn’t hope to affect both of my rings.

For once, it was the outer that saved me.

All of sudden, my attention sharpened. I looked behind me, and I saw…

Nothing. It was just a solid blank wall, corroded and pitted, and yet there was no hole to indicate that I’d been crawling through potentially hundreds of cell walls.

I think…I hadn’t even done anything. I’d just been trapped in a mental loop, staring uselessly at a wall for…who knows how long.

But I was free now, and I was aware of the influence. I think the entire idea of breaking down walls had been from the whisper. It wanted me focused on an entirely asinine plan of action. It wanted me to stay in an endless, inescapable maze fashioned off of a childhood fear.

So, I wasn’t going to do it, obviously. That left me with one question, though.

What now?

My eyes drifted downward, to stare at the somewhat ominous hole in the corner of this cell. I couldn’t fit through that without breaking the precarious floor, but I did have something that could.

I shuffled around until I stood with one palm open, and called for my newest Skill.

Manifestation of Agony.

My Sprite darted into being, and without even needing to be told, my core ring slid into it. The little bunch of firey blue and crimson thorns saluted me and then floated downwards

In and through the hole.

I didn’t have real-time observation through my Sprite, which was honestly a bit annoying, so I had to wait for it to come back. It didn’t take long, however. It couldn’t have been gone for more than five minutes before that ghostly blue head poked back through the hole. Once it was in sight, the resident mind returned home and told me what it had found.

Stone, and an endless abyss below us. It was incredibly dark outside of the cell, but my core thought that wherever we were, it was floating over an immense pit into the earth.

This was one strange bunker.

However…

If it was just open air out there, then I didn’t care about breaking through this flimsy floor.

I had wings, after all.

I might just be able to find another entrance back into the bunker, from outside. I wasn’t going to find my companions, or the information I sought, from inside this cell. Both were somewhere in this complex.

Plan made, I rolled my neck back and forth to crack it, and then only needed to cast one more Skill in order to get underway. After all, the weight alone seemed like it would be enough for my purposes.

Vis Maledicta Exactoris.

I exploded to my full transformed state and immediately banged my head against the roof of the cell. I didn’t have long to even register that pain, though, because moments later…

I plunged through the floor into the open air, flaring my wings as I did so.

My core had been right.

It was incredibly dark out here, but there was still enough light drifting outwards from the bunker above that I could make it out. It was, frankly, enormous. It was a massive, sprawling complex of which I could only barely see a fraction of, but I could be sure of one thing.

This wasn’t the spiral-patterned fortification I had been expecting.

However, a problem presented itself.

I wasn’t supposed to be out here.

A vast, furious sense of unwelcome assaulted me the moment I started drifting through the open air of the chasm the bunker hung in. The voice that had been inaudibly whispering in my ear was not happy. Siren loud whispers echoed out through the dark, all of them filled with an unending condemnation. I could still make out no words, but I knew what it was saying.

I wasn’t playing by the rules. If I didn’t get back in the bunker now, I was going to be crushed as a rule breaker. Already, I could make out malevolent wisps of magenta Aether seeping through the walls of the bunker. They started to stretch my way on long sinuous tentacles, and from the feel of them, I could tell I was naught but an ant.

If those touched me, I would be erased from existence.

I cast my eyes about desperately as I flapped in place, searching for another way into the bunker that wasn’t just my escaped cell.

There!

Off to my right and above me, I could see another source of the crimson light of the bunker. There was a rent in the walls as if a great clawed creature had tested them against the steel, and the steel had been found wanting. I couldn’t see what was on the other side of that hole, but it had to be better than the certain death of the cavern.

I flapped my wings hard to gain altitude in the blackness, just barely dodging the first malignant tentacle as it swiped at me. I didn’t stop pumping my wings as I raced towards my salvation, speeding towards the opening in the corroded steel walls, chased by feelers wrought from sizzling, corrupted Aether.

Just a little further…

I could see that the gap in the walls wasn’t large enough for my transformed body to fit through, much less my wings, so instead, the moment I reached it, I canceled the Skill. My forward momentum was enough to carry me through the opening, and I broke my fall with a roll, skidding to a stop on the thankfully much more structurally sound floor inside of the bunker.

I raised my head just in time to watch as the hunting tentacles stopped just outside of the gap in the wall, hovering in place for a moment just outside of the jagged steel opening, eerily still. After a tense eternity where it felt like they were somehow watching me, they slowly, gradually retreated until they were out of view.

I let out a sigh of relief and slumped back to rest on the wall behind me. I closed my eyes for a moment to center myself after the ordeal that was…more mentally taxing than physically, honestly. My head tilted back to thud onto the rusted wall behind me as I considered my current situation.

Okay.

So.

Somehow, someway, this bunker had turned out to be a trap. I’d led my friends and companions into some kind of ancient trap that had been, if I was going to hazard a guess, possibly set by the gods. Maybe Chaos, maybe Order, but most ancient fuckery that seemed to occur on Vereden could almost always be traced back to them.

I could be wrong, of course. Maybe the mysterious builders of these bunkers had set this trap all by themselves. But I doubt it.

The construction of the bunkers, the contents to be found in them…they didn’t speak of a particularly malicious people. Vastly more technologically advanced, yes. Spiteful casters of traps that preyed upon people's childhood fears, no.

And now my friends were, in all likelihood, trapped in here with me. That left me with only one option, then.

I had to find them.

Then, I could search for what I’d been looking for in here.

If…it even still existed, that is.

My mind made up, I opened my eyes and stood up with a grunt to take in my surroundings. I had seen little of where I had found myself after my mad flight.

I was immediately struck dumb by what I found.

This…this was a hall, of some sort. An enormous one, stretching far off into the distance to the extent that I couldn’t even see the limits of it. It was lit by small button lights set into the walls and ceiling that flickered with what looked to be red lights, strobing on and off on occasion. Not all of them seemed to be working correctly, however. There were vast sections of the hall that were drowned in darkness, and the weak lights didn’t contribute much in all honesty.

But they were enough to see the contents of where I had found myself.

At first…

At first, I thought they were drums. Tall, metal cylinders that stood upright, slightly tilted back, and supported by corroded metal struts. After the long, long years standing sentinel here in the dark and the rust, many of them had either fallen to pieces, slumped to the side, or in some cases, vanished altogether from their plinths. The front of the tubes was meant to be constructed of glass, I could see. Only a bare handful of the panes still remained unbroken after centuries of neglect, and of those that did, the surface was corroded and masked by rust and dust. Broken glass littered the decayed metal of the floor, making me wary of stepping incautiously. I’d had to puncture my boots back up at the control center for the barges, after all. With a cautious look at my surroundings, I saw no movement and bent down to mend them with Aetherial Melding. I didn’t want glass in my boots to shred my feet after all.

When I was done, I looked back up, and when I did, something caught my eye. A glint of what looked to be white, or perhaps yellow? I couldn’t tell in this dim, menacingly crimson light. It had come from one of the ‘drums’ nearest to me, reflected off of a pane of glass.

For some reason, I shivered. But I shook it off. I needed to get to exploring if I was going to find my companions, and I needed to search this place to do it. I cautiously drew my daggers and held them tightly as I stepped forward to investigate.

When I reached the tall, metallic tube with its shattered surface, I saw what had caught my attention.

And I wish I hadn’t.

My lips parted in silent shock as I stared into the empty sockets of a yellowed, stripped bare human skull.

<<Chapter 267 | Table of Contents | Chapter 269>>

Chapter 267 - Trickery in Violet

For one long moment, nothing happened, and I feared the worst. Was the door broken, after who knows how many centuries moldering in the shadow of the Wyrm? Had all of our efforts to reach this hidden door been for nothing? Had I dragged my friends and companions across the ocean and the treacherous surface of Goryuen for absolutely nothing?

No, as it turned out.

But something else just as alarming happened instead.

Back in Hollow Hill, when I had first encountered one of these bunkers, the door that Grey had spent so much time obsessing over had opened easily at my touch. From the point of contact, a rolling wave of pure, rainbow-colored Aether had rolled across the surface, illuminating my handprint. After that, the door had separated out into countless small segments and smoothly rolled back into the surrounding walls.

That didn’t happen here. It almost did, I could tell.

Instead, the door shuddered for a moment. Slowly, almost reluctantly, Aether came to outline my hand upon the surface of the ancient bunker. But this was the opposite of the comforting, cascading hue of natural Aether.

This was a dark, nearly black magenta. It oozed up from the precisely machined cracks of the door, and under my palm I could physically feel the sensation of the energy. That was…new. I had never touched raw energy before, and I didn’t appreciate this being the first example I was introduced to. It was oily to the touch and slick with a malicious, wicked intent as it rolled under my hand.

I almost instinctively tried to recoil and yank my palm from the sensation of that depraved power, but to my dismay, I found that I couldn’t.

My hand was stuck to the surface of the metal.

I tensed as a low roar started to fill my ears.

This was a trap of some kind. Set by who, I had no way of knowing.

But I couldn’t escape.

From the point of contact, tendrils of the corrupted Aether started to spike outward, until they reached the outer circle of the door. To my rising panic, the stone hands on the edges shuddered when the blackened Aether touched them and recoiled, retreating into the rock. Rapidly, a symbol came to be illuminated upon the surface of this ancient doorway.

A five-pointed star, oriented downward and quite literally dripping with malevolence. My right, flesh hand rested in the center of that pentagon, and for that, I cursed myself. If I had only touched the surface with my left, I could have disengaged the prosthetic and abandoned it to hang there. But I didn’t, and for that, we were put into immediate crisis.

All of us, it turned out.

With my hand stuck to the surface, to my horror, something was happening at the point of contact in the center of that star. I felt it when, from the pool of murky, corrupted Aether surrounding my hand, something reached out.

What felt like a single, feminine finger reached out and drew itself, almost teasingly, down the center of my palm.

Goosebumps of sudden fear and horror exploded down my spine.

This all happened in moments, and my companions were only starting to tense in alarm at the unexpected sight. But none of us, not a one, were ready for what happened next. Instead of folding away neatly, the surface of the door abruptly exploded inward in jagged junks of disparate metal. The portal into the bygone fortification was ringed with those barbed fragments in a manner as if to evoke the sight of an enormous befanged mouth.

My hand was released from the grip of the door, and of the finger I had felt, no evidence presented itself.

On the other side was only darkness instead.

Darkness and distant, deep, all-encompassing silence.

The last time I had broken the seal on one of these tombs, air had suddenly rushed inward as if it was fighting to fill a vacuum. Later, I had realized that the entire structure had been entirely devoid of air, as it was being deliberately preserved in the absence of oxygen.

Something similar happened here.

Only…

Much, much greater.

As if the mouth we all stood before was one in reality, a vast inward pressure suddenly began to pull at all of us like an inward breath of air. Wind, dust, and rain pulled from the mouth of the nook we stood in rushed forward, drawn from the force of it. It was nearly akin to the reversal of gravity, where the center of Vereden had suddenly reversed, finding itself within the heart of this bunker.

We were being sucked inward.

With our strength and reflexes, all of us of course tried to resist the pull. From Venix, to Azarus, to Renauld, to Kazuma and myself, we tried everything we could to stop ourselves. We drove weapons into the stone floor of the outcropping, we activated all manner of Skills and Spells and Arts to try and anchor ourselves…

But all it was for naught.

The mouth would not be denied.

We were all dragged from our feet and inexplicably fell downwards into darkness, the distant rattle of Tatsugan’s tail the only sound that reached us.

Boom…boom…

Boom.

The darkness swallowed me, and I knew no more.

…………………………………..

I could not tell you how long I was buried in the blackness of unconsciousness. For the longest time, it was as if I had ceased to exist.

No…

It was as if the world had ceased to exist. I was everywhere and nowhere, all at once. Formed and formless in an unending void of a reality that no longer remained for purchase. And yet, in the depths of that deprivation, I could tell.

Something was happening all around me.

And I could only tell this because of my core ring.

My outer was being smothered by the darkness. No thoughts ran through that outer ring, but thankfully, it fulfilled its purpose. The core of me was protected, and it could feel the shifting of the world around me.

It was, in a way, nearly familiar to me. The rearrangement of the outside world felt similar to that strange dimension I had battled Rhazal within.

The Concord, realm of Spirits.

But it wasn’t that place. Something intrinsic to my soul could tell that I was still within the domain of physicality, and not that of the spiritual. The malleability of the actuality I found myself within reminded me of that place, however.

And then, all at once…

Sight returned to me, as if the lights to creation had been relit once more. My outer ring startled to life at the same time, and it was just as struck in confusion by where I now found myself.

I was in what must be the bunker, only…

It wasn’t like the other one I had explored at all.

That tomb had looked to have been ransacked, in a way, as if a great invading force had stormed its depths and put all within to the sword. Great rents in the walls and fixtures of the bunker had dotted every surface, and even the ceiling had caved in at certain points. There had been a nearly imperceptible feeling of melancholy that filled that place.

Here…

Here, what could only be one of the bunkers looked to have been defiled. The recognizably, normally pristine and precisely machined metals looked to have been corroded. Rust and corrosion were heavily present on every single surface I could see about me. Pitting within the walls was all about my sitting form, through which I could easily look through into an ominous pitch-black void.

I, however, was in a small room not much larger than a broom closet. There was barely enough space in here for me to lay flat, and if I tried, I wouldn’t be able to stretch out my arms out fully. I couldn’t even really raise them. The space was so narrow that all I could do was wedge one hand up to rest on the wall next to me. There was nothing else in here but the door, of which was the only surface still fully intact. SAid door had a small square hole cut in it, filled with three bars at around eye height on an average man. The only light in the cell came from the opening, and that light was weak, and disturbingly, slightly reddish. Even the floor beneath me looked to have been weakened, with one corner sporting a visible hole into nothingness.

The door was shut.

And it didn’t have a handle.

Carefully, suspecting what I would find, I stood up. I wasn’t able to stretch to my full height and had to remain stooped over. I had to stop, briefly, when the ground underneath me creaked and groaned beneath my feet ominously. I held my breath for several tense seconds to see if I was about to fall through it, but thankfully, nothing happened.

I barely had to extend my arm at all in order to lay one hand on the solid, rusty surface of the door. Exerting the slightest amount of effort, afraid I would shatter the floor from the pushback, I shoved against the entrance.

Nothing. The door was shut tightly.

Trapped.

I was trapped in this small, rusted closet. Panic started to well up in me then and my eyes widened in their sockets. I started to breathe heavily, my shoulders tensing.

Just the sight of this small, cramped little closet was dredging up old fears and even older memories. Things that I’d forgotten. Things that I thought I’d gotten past.

When I was little, my parents had been friends with another couple who had a young son, someone who they wanted me to be friends with. That hadn’t really worked, however. The two of us had barely tolerated each other’s presence.

Well, to be more accurate, he had despised me, and I was afraid of him most of the time. The kid had been a bit of a bully, and was much bigger than I was.

One day, when I was maybe six years old, the bastard and his much larger friend group had ganged up and locked me in a closet and shoved a dresser in front of it. Thoughtlessly, the cackling little shit and his asshole friends had left me there, in the dark, for an entire day as our parents were out at some concert or something. There in the darkness of that closet, my young mind had thought it was going to tear itself apart from fear. It was only after the adults had returned and found me missing that a search was undertaken. When my mother found me there in that dark, covered in snot, tears, and truthfully my own urine, it had caused such a fight that we never associated with those people again.

In the aftermath, I’d needed years of sessions with a child psychiatrist in order to combat the intense claustrophobia that resulted from the experience. I’d never developed a fear of darkness from the trial.

Just small, enclosed spaces.

It was a fear that I thought I’d long since gotten past.

It was such a childish thing…

But now it was rearing its ancient head once more. I would ask why now, normally. I had encountered plenty of dark, small spots since I’d been dumped on Vereden. Plenty of them had been filled with actual monsters, too, and not just the demons of the mind.

But I knew why my spine was starting to crawl now.

It was because this was a closet.

Or rather…a closet-like cell.

It was my core ring that kept a grip itself, while my outer descended into fear and childlike dread. Where the hell was I? This had to be the bunker…right? I don’t remember a thing that had happened after-

Oh God.

I’d triggered some kind of trap left on the bunker, and all of us had gotten sucked inside of it. It…almost looked like I had been captured, somehow, and locked up in this…cell. But by who? And why the hell would captors like that leave me all my weaponry? Because I still had everything. I wasn’t missing a single piece of equipment, from my daggers to Terractus to my bow. Even my supply pouch was still on me. Hell, I even had my staff.

And let me tell you, the long length of wood wasn’t helping me maneuver in these tight environs.

Had there been inhabitants in the bunker? I couldn’t see how considering how old it must be. Nor did I hear anything from outside my cell.

The only thing audible was the creaking of degraded metal.

How…how had I gotten in here?

The absurdity of the situation, combined with my core’s calm assessment of it, finally broke through the panic of my outer self. My adult mind finally triumphed over the fears of the deep past. I took a deep, shuddering breath, and started considering options.

I couldn’t stay in here forever. I don’t care if I had been deliberately imprisoned by some force, or outright teleported in here.

I had to get out. But how? I don’t think I was going to get through that door, not without breaking the weakened floor beneath me. I had to tamp down on a hysterical laugh, for a moment, because this was the second time today that I was being thwarted by a door of all things.

God, my life was a tragedy sometimes.

It didn’t have any visible hinges on it either, which was…not great. If it had those at the very least, I could have broken them and slipped out that way. It was thick, as well, so I don’t think the corrosive effect of Poisonthorn Shot-

I stopped. There was an idea, a distant part of me whispered.

If I couldn’t get through the door….

I look over at the wall consideringly. That…could work. It might be the only way I could get through the wall, actually. I didn’t have enough room in here to draw and using any of my weapons or tools. Not even my daggers, really.

But if I wedged one hand up against the wall, and used the Skill then…

Maybe I could burrow a hole into the room next to me and try and get out that way.

No time like the present, I guess.

I slid one hand up to rest on the wall to my right in this cramped space and called for the Skill.

Poisonthorn Shot.

I felt the thunk as the thorn embedded itself in the wall, but more importantly than that, I felt the wall start to give. The sizzling of metal pierced the quiet of the cell, and chemical smoke drifted up to my nostrils. I grimaced at the smell but soldiered on.

That couldn’t be good for me.

It only took seconds for my skill to pierce through the surprisingly thin walls, causing my hand to slip through into open air. I didn’t feel anything on the other side, so I withdrew the arm and knelt down enough to look through the small hole. The floor creaked warningly at the movement, but I did my best to pay it no mind.

On the other side of the wall was…

Another cell, almost identical to the one I was in. I wasn’t able to see the door from this position, but judging by the slight illumination in there, it was shut closed as well.

I let out a resigned, tense sigh. For a moment, I was tempted to try again on the other wall, but I think…

I think there was only open space, on that side. There was a small pitting on that wall that let me look through, and on the other side, I saw a deep, foreboding darkness that represented only open air.

Still.

The hole I had made was progress, at the least. And the sight of it was lessening my old fears of tight spaces.

Time to make it bigger.

I got to work widening the hole with my corrosive hole, and when it was large enough, I carefully slipped through.

Closed door, like I thought.

I tried again on the far wall.

And again.

And again.

And again…

<<Chapter 266 | Table of Contents | Chapter 268>>

Chapter 266 - The Gate of the Underworld

Thankfully, my stamina held out as I helped to row us to the mountain. Probably entirely due to the Energy potion, honestly. Nonetheless, thanks to the powerful winds kicked up by Tatsugan’s storm as the Wyrm raged above us against Shacklock, we reached the mountain shore in about forty-ish minutes. I actually think the trip was so short because the sea was visibly rising around us as we sailed towards the mount, ever so slightly reducing the distance to our destination.

Halfway there, all of us had been startled by an unusually large rumbling noise coming from the rim of the caldera. We’d momentarily stopped at the noise and followed it to its source. What we found was that the rim of the caldera had failed once again and was fracturing in real time before our eyes. The group stared in silence as great chunks of rock and stone fractured into the sea in chunks larger than entire castles, sending waves cascading across the surface. We’d needed to retreat to the wheelhouse in order to avoid being swept from the deck of the barge, fearing all the while that it would break as well from the force of a wall of water. However, in an almost supernatural manner, the barge barely budged from the force of the wave and was entirely undamaged when we emerged.

What we found instead was that entire lakes worth of water was pouring in through the breech in the caldera walls. Because of that, the inland sea rose gradually all around us as we sailed towards the mountain.

I could only hope the bunker had yet to be submerged.

Once there, we all stared upward at the gigantic rock face that loomed above us. Not just because of the sheer size of Gorenzen.

But because we were searching for our goal.

It was hard to see through the storm, but the map indicated that the impenetrable door should be somewhere within our line of sight.

Liora was the one who spotted it first. “There!” She yelled over the storm, pointing up with one leather-clad finger. I, and the rest of my companions, followed the digit up to where it was pointing at a seemingly innocuous section of the cliff face, maybe a hundred yards above us and to the right. I couldn’t see what she was pointing at initially, although I heard Renauld sigh next to me. I focused harder.

And then I saw it.

Briefly visible in a flash of lightning a single, reflective gleam in the darkness of the storm. It vanished a moment later, but I’d seen it.

That had to be the door.

Azarus voiced what we were all thinking, a grimace on his bearded face. “We’ll have to climb.”

“Up that?” Renauld said, apprehension in his voice. “In this?”

“It’s a short climb,” Venix said shortly, ignoring the side-eye he received from the Healer. “There is plenty of purchase along the way, and at this point upon the mountain, it is not altogether steep.”

I glanced back at the cliff face. I…suppose it wasn’t quite vertical, but it was still a damned mountain.

If only I could fly through the storm. I could just fly up and drop a rope down for the rest of-

Wait a second.

Venix must have been reading my mind because upon seeing the apprehensive looks on more than one of our friends faces, he sighed. The Antium man bent down and picked up the small sack of climbing gear we had brought along with us, ostensibly for this exact purpose. “I will go,” He said with finality. “And cast down a rope for the rest of you. My greater strength and familiarity with Gorenzan makes the climb less hazardous.”

Well…if he was offering…

I don’t think I was the only person a little relieved at the sensible offer. But I still had to say something.

“I guess the other option is we just wait till Shacklock kills Tatsugan?” I said, glancing around at the others. “My understanding is that the storm will stop with his death, and the climb won’t be quite as dangerous.”

Kazuma shook his head. “No…that is not an option. With the Wyrm’s death, the sea shall rapidly drain. Then we would have to climb from the very base of the mount, and it is meant to extend for quite some distance. I do not wish to spend days traversing miles worth of mountainside, simply to reach this very spot once again.”

Oh.

Bella cut through the conversation by clapping her hands together. Coincidentally, at the same time, a rattle from Tatsugan sounded out another peel of thunder. She just ignored it. “You boys have fun with that!” She shouted over the noise. “Quit gabbin’ and get on with it!”

Wait, what?

“Bella, what do you mean?”

The pirate Captain grinned at both my question, and the looks from everyone else. “I’ve gotta stay back and watch the barge. If I don’t keep an eye on her, then this tub is gonna get dashed on the rocks with the risin’ waters. Then we’re all really screwed.”

“But-”

She held up a hand. “I made up me mind,” Bella said with finality. “I’m stayin’, and that’s that. Ye can just tell me all about what ye found in there later, Nate.”

I…had been really looking forward to exploring the bunker with her…

But I understood her point. I sighed and nodded my head.

However, that wasn’t all. To my surprise, Liora stepped forward to stand next to Bella. At the woman’s surprised look, the Gnoll smiled slightly at her. “I shall remain behind as well. It takes more than one pair of hands to man a ship, after all.”

Bella grinned at her friend and then slugged her on the shoulder. The former assassin’s smile took on a brief pained cast, but it didn’t last.

I see.

And then there were five.

At least…that’s what I thought.

When I turned back around to face the others that were coming up with me, I found that Venix had already started his climb while we were speaking. Well, I say climb, but it was really more like bound. The Antium samurai was leaping up the slick face of the mountain with unsurprising acuity, rapidly leaping from foothold to foothold as he ascended towards the outcropping that the bunker entrance lay tucked into. There was a brief moment where even his enhanced Dexterity wasn’t able to maintain footing on such treacherous ground. His foot came down, and it slipped right under him. For a moment, it looked like Venix was going to fall and plummet back down the mountainside. However, he recovered by burying his entire first into the stone of the mountainside and gripping onto the handhold he had created.

Alright, I was feeling a little vindicated about ‘letting’ Venix make the ascent alone. If someone so much more powerful than I was had slipped even once on that climb, the rest of us would have probably been sliding around like we’d been on an ice rink.

Eventually, Venix reached the outcropping with the door and disappeared over the side of it. Moments later, the long, snaking form of the rope bundle we had bought back in Hinaga fell over the side. We had actually bought such a lengthy ream of rope that it turned out to be overkill. As a result, it reached all the way down to the barge and thumped onto the deck.

Azarus, Renauld, Kazuma, and I simply stared at the rope for a second, before our second samurai walked over and picked it up. Without a word, he secured his katana to his waist with a spare length of cloth so it wouldn’t bounce about, and then got to climbing. It wasn’t really a good idea to stress a rope, especially a wet rope, with the weight of more than one person. So all of us stood by and watched as the presumptive heir to the Order of Solstice’s Flame shimmied his way up to the outcropping. When he reached the top, Venix grabbed his forearm and hauled the other samurai over the edge. I could see Kazuma accept the help with a nod, and then toss the rope back over the edge.

Renauld picked it up and followed him, and when the Gnoll was finished, Azarus raised an eyebrow at me. I just shook my head. My dwarven friend shrugged and hopped on the rope as well for his own climb.

I spared one last glance at the women who were staying behind before I made my own ascent. I received a raised eyebrow from Liora and a ‘get on with it’ gesture from Bella for my trouble. I couldn’t help but huff a small laugh that, and then grabbed the rope.

And climbed.

It didn’t take me long. Thanks to the rope, I was up and over the edge of the outcropping in mere minutes, accepting a hand up from Azarus. At the very least, it was nice to be out of the rain again.

I can’t even describe how tired I was of rain by this point.

All other thoughts were wiped out of my mind, though, when I finally laid eyes upon the door I had traveled so far to find.

Days of sea travel to reach this damned island.

Even longer trekking through steaming hot jungle, followed by arid, stony plains.

Spending the night in a volcano of all things.

And then hiking across rain-slick mountain tops.

All for this.

Set into the far wall of the alcove was a metallic door, perhaps ten feet in height. Circular in shape, in the dim light provided by the number of different light skills illuminating the small cover, I could see that it had to have been machined. Fine seems were visible all along the surface of the door, too precise to have been smithed by even the greatest craftsman to ever live. The door itself was deep inset into the stone of the mountain, and to my astonishment, it almost looked like the stone was trying to reclaim it. Small, irregular fingers of rock crept inward from the outer circle, looking as if the hands of Vereden itself were trying to break their way in.

Or perhaps…

Hide the door from prying eyes.

The sight of the stone creeping across the metallic surface of the bunker door sent a chill down my spine, and I don’t think I was the only one. The rest of my companions accompanying me stood stock still as we all stared at the object of our quest. There was an odd atmosphere to the air, outside of what I knew to be an ancient bunker of some kind. A…taste, almost, to the Aether of the environment.

It felt twisted somehow.

Tortured.

As if an infinite amount of suffering had been inflicted in this place, staining the very fabric of the world forevermore.

It was so wrong.

Perhaps it was my imagination, but I swore that the gales of Tatsugan’s storm sounded different, playing across the mouth of this alcove.

As if from a great distance, I heard the sound of wailing.

I…knew now, why the Kawamarans called this the Yami-no-Koshi. The Gate of the Underworld. I had initially dismissed the epithet as nothing more than a colorful name given to an extraordinary location. But I was wrong.

I could easily imagine this as the literal gate to Hell. The entranceway into the abyss of infinite, unending despair.

The trance that all of us had fallen into was broken by another rattle of Tatsugan’s tail, sending a fresh peal of thunder echoing across the sky. Venix was the first to break out of the near spell, taking an almost defiant step forward further into the alcove. However, I noticed that he was gripping all four of his blades tightly, with all four hands.

That was the cue for the rest of us to all, and we did.

Albeit, warily.

Before long, all five of us stood in front of the door, easily able to do so shoulder to shoulder. I stood in the center, feeling and knowing, deep in the depths of my soul that something was wrong here.

But I couldn’t just turn back now. Not after all we had done to reach this point. Not with all we, I, stood to gain from this expedition. Who knew what knowledge lay in the depths of this bunker? What history?

We had to find out.

I had to know.

With the way the atmosphere of this alcove had seemed to steal the voices from our throats, I didn’t speak before I did what I needed to. I simply peeled off the glove on my right hand, reached out.

And set it, palm first on the door in front of me.

<<Chapter 265 | Table of Contents | Chapter 267>>

Chapter 265 - Freefall

I was instantly buffeted by the storm raging all about me. Even though my exertions in the control room had felt like hours, it had to have been only minutes. And yet, in that short amount of time that I spent struggling with the door, Tatsugan’s influence had turned the skies into a veritable hurricane. A great cyclone had formed in the heavens to encircle the entirety of the caldera, and the rain fell heavy enough that I felt like I was underwater. Winds howled so loudly that I feared my eardrums would burst from that alone, much less the thundering of the proto-Calamity as it battled Shacklock and his forces.

(Was that even still true? Had Tatsugan ascended, and slain his opponent? I had no way of knowing.)

And so I was caught in the storm. Before the face of it, I was little better than an ant before the goliath.

My wings were caught by the wind, and I went into a death spiral.

I was falling, I knew that. I could feel myself tumbling erratically through the air, as I fell towards the inland sea below me. The world made no sense to me whatsoever, and my senses were overwhelmed. The sensation, my core ring calmly noted, was not unlike If I had been dunked underwater.

But I couldn’t do anything about it. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t angle my wings to catch onto the wild, chaotic winds that raged all about me.

Panic overtook me, for a moment, and I became convinced that I was going to die. Any moment now, I would plunge straight into the raging waters of the inland sea, and get torn to shreds by the innumerable stone shards swirling within it. That was if the impact with the water didn’t instantly kill me, though. This caldera was huge, after all, and the ‘dock’ had been quite a distance above the waters.

Shut the fuck up, core.

I’d had an idea, piercing through my panic. If my wings were what was causing the problem…

Then they had to go.

I released my hold on Vis Maledicta Exactoris. Immediately, I was lighter, and my helpless spinning stopped. With the whirling of the world solved, I was able to see again, even if the speeding rain stung my wide-open eyes.

What I saw was the looming, lurking form of the gargantuan mountain. Gorenzan dominated my sight lines, almost appearing to sneer down at me from the rocky crags and sharp spires of its face. I could easily imagine Tatsugan’s roost speaking to me from the storm.

How dare you think you could brave my domain, fool, it said.

I narrowed my eyes, as much against the wind and rain as it was against the half-mad taunt I was anthropomorphizing.

We’ll see.

Back in my normal, mostly human form, it was easy for me to fold my arms and legs together. As I did so, my orientation changed in midair, and my view shifted from the imposing form of the mountain to the yawning, churning pit of water far below me. Plunging head first in that direction, I thought that I could just barely see the mostly rectangular shape of the barge, bobbing up and down on the turbulent, crashing waves of the inland sea. It didn’t seem to have gone far from the point it must have touched down upon.

My friends were waiting for me.

I guess I couldn’t keep them waiting then.

I closed my eyes momentarily in my fall if only to steady my nerves. Strangely…

Strangely, it came easy to me. For once, I didn’t miss the artificially calming effect that my lost middle ring could grant. I could do this myself.

So to speak.

But I was going to have to time this right if I didn’t want to end up as a smear on the deck of the ancient barge. The timing would have to be precise, down to the last second. I couldn’t risk reactivating my transformation early, or else the veritable sails of my wings might blow me off course. Then I would risk crashing into the waters to be blended.

It had to be at the last possible moment, to break my fall.

…actually, would the force of such a thing be too much for my body to handle? So much momentum being drained away in an instant might just snap my wings right off of my body.

My core ring brought up a good point, I acknowledged, as I plunged towards my possible death.

I should reinforce myself, in that case.

I waited.

A particularly powerful gust of wind threatened to blow me off course. I tensed my muscles to streamline my form even more, and let it blow over me.

I waited.

A strike of lightning pierced down through the heavens and into the inland sea close enough that I was able to see it skitter across the waters. My core sighed in relief that it wasn’t close enough to fry us instead.

I waited…and then…

The deck loomed in my vision, the barely visible forms of my companions staring upwards, searching for something.

Or someone.

Now!

I activated Vis Maledicta Exactoris and Might of the Wyrdwood simultaneously.

This time, at thirty-five percent. My struggles holding the door told me I could handle thirty if I put my mind to it. Why not try five more percent, if only to avoid becoming a smear on a plank of ancient wood?

Instantly, I exploded into my transformed state, and I flared my wings out as wide as I possibly could. They shuddered violently, feeling very much like they would be ripped right out of my back to be cast into the wind. But only for a moment.

Because in the next, ghostly crimson vines began to crawl all over my body in a strangely purposeful manner. Only my core had the observational capacity to notice what they were doing, while my outer self was busy fighting to keep us together in the face of the immense physical strain we were under.

The vines were forming into what looked to be armor. Still vague, still indistinct.

But armor nonetheless.

My fall slowed from the terminal plunge it had been into a mere fast drop, instead. Angling my legs downwards, the instant my feet touched upon the wood of the barge, the entire structure of the ship shook violently from the force of the impact. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Renauld stumbled and nearly fell over, only to be steadied by Kazuma.

Both of them were gaping at me in surprise.

As I rose to my full height, releasing my hold on both of my active Skills as I did so, I noticed they were the only ones. Liora was merely shaking her head at me with a small smile on her face, while Azarus was rolling his eyes. Venix gave me a brief, acknowledging nod from his point on the bow of the barge, before casting his eyes back upwards to try and catch a glimpse of the distant struggle with Tatsugan.

Meanwhile, Bella had leaned over the wheel over the ship above my position and was grinning at me. “Bout time!” She called out, shouting to be heard over the storm. “We was about ta leave ye behind! We got places ta be!”

I huffed a laugh, rolling my shoulders exhaustedly. The entire struggle to lower the barge and then the plunge towards might have only taken perhaps…fifteen? Maybe twenty minutes?

But it had felt like a lifetime. I was pretty damn exhausted after that.

Time for a pick-me up.

I fished around in my supply pack for what I was looking for with one hand, as I shrugged the opposite shoulder at her. “Forgive me, Captain!” I called back, retrieving a small vial with a butter-yellow potion in it. “I was delayed by a pack of ne’er do wells.”

Bella rolled her eyes at me as I popped the cork and down the mild Energy potion. Instantly, I felt most of my exhaustion vanish. Which was good, but I was going to feel that later. I knew I would. The burst of energy these potions granted didn’t come with zero cost.

Oddly, Renauld shook off his shock at my abrupt entrance and marched over to me with a frown. He seized me by the arm, and started dragging me over to the small cabin beneath the helm. I let him, considering my nearly implicit trust in the Gnoll.

Besides.

It was nice to get back out of the rain, if only for a moment.

Kazuma trailed in our wake silently.

Once inside the darkened interior of the wheel house, Renauld irritably flicked out a hand and cast a light spell. The small orb of bright white light floated up near the bare ceiling and brightened. Helpfully, Kazuma imitated him, casting his own, Cultivator Art version of the same thing. His was instead a bar of light that he held in his hand like a torch, holding it above Renauld as the Healer kneeled down in front of me and…held his hands out over my leg?

I looked down and understood.

Ah.

That scrape I’d felt as I was fleeing the dockside bunker had been a bit more serious than I’d thought. The talons of one of the Wyrmkin had torn right through both the armored, mystically enhanced silk of my pants and the scales of my transformation. In the near-perfect illumination of the room, I could in fact see the white of my own bone from a large gash that Renauld was inspecting on my right leg.

I hadn’t felt the wound at all with the adrenaline pumping through my veins from the fight and flight. Now that it was fading, though…

I tensed, hissing through my teeth as I struggled to keep my hands off the leg. The pain was hitting me all at once, and it was not slight. I did not appreciate the twitching feeling in my leg as severed muscle strands tried to contract.

There it was. That familiar longing for my middle ring.

Hello, old friend.

Renauld ignored my twitching, instead of visibly casting one of his Healing spells, a slight green glow starting to flow from his hands to my leg. This wasn’t my first time being healed, and I was sure it wasn’t going to be the last, but it was still cool to watch as my flesh knit itself back together before my eyes. It only took the Healer minutes for the grievous wound that would have taken months to years back on Earth to heal to close completely. In its place was a ropey, black-scaled scar spanning the length of my right shin diagonally. Even that was more of a symptom of Renauld’s haste, though. I knew it was possible to have scars erased by a Healer of sufficient skill. I just hadn’t ever sought that service.

Maybe I should, though. It might help to make me appear less inhuman.

I shelved that observation from my core for later consideration. For now, I gingerly stood up from the chair Renauld had shoved me into during the treatment and tested the leg. No pain greeted me, so I nodded at my Gnollish friend. “Thanks man. I didn’t even notice.”

Renauld just rolled his eyes at me. “Yeah, well. I did. Try and be more careful next time, Nate. I’ve only got so much fuel for the fire, and we don’t know what’s waiting for us at the mountain.”

I ignored Kazuma as he nodded wisely at Renauld’s mild rebuke, but still took it in the spirit it was given. I knew that he just said it because he cared.

Together, the three of us exited the cabin to find that everyone else had ventured up to join Bell at the helm. There, they were huddled around…the map that Masayoshi had given to me?

I instinctively reached for my supply pouch where I had thought the map was, but I found it missing. Bella must have seen the movement as we walked up to join them, because her eyes flickered my way. She winked at me slyly.

I grinned back, reluctantly amused at her quick fingers, but focused instead on the map with the others. There, I found Venix tracing a line with his finger from the representation of the caldera’s edge, before tapping a position in the sea portion. “Here,” He said roughly, barely audible over the thundering of Tatsugan’s rattle. It had never really stopped. “We are roughly here.”

The position he had pointed out was at around the four o’clock position on the caldera, very close to the wall. Meanwhile, the marking for the impenetrable wall that the Kawamaran’s called the ‘Gate of the Underworld’ was near to the eight o’clock location on the mountain.

Somewhere on that imposing cliff face lay the bunker I had come so far for.

Bella studied the map for a moment longer, before looking up from it to study the sea around us. She made an L shape with her fingers and framed a portion of the mountain with it, and then nodded sharply. “Get on the oars, boys,” She said shortly. “Liora and I will raise the sails. Renauld, you go bang the drum. With all o’ that…I can get us there in about thirty minutes, mebbe an hour I’m thinkin’.”

I looked askance at her, as Venix, Kazuma, and Azarus departed for the oars. A grinning Renauld walked up to the ancient hide drums and picked the stick bound to its side. “An hour? Does Shacklock have that long? Come to think of it…why hasn’t he already, you know. Core Collapsed?”

Kazuma stopped long enough to grimace at me in passing. “Pride,” He said dourly, just barely loud enough to be heard over the storm. “Shacklock wishes to test his limits against the Oblivion Wyrm, in the twilight of his life. I was informed that he intended to fight the beast as long as possible, before initiating his plan. And then the sword, and my ancestor, will be lost.” At that, he walked away shaking his head to pick up an oar.

I exchanged a look with Bella, who shrugged at me before joining Liora at the rigging. I shrugged as well, before joining the others on deckside oars. Plunging mine into the churning waters, I did my best to ignore the soreness in my muscles as Venix set the pace and Renauld banged on the drum.

At least this wouldn’t take too long.

Not sure how much more exertion I could take.

<<Chapter 264 | Table of Contents | Chapter 266>>

Chapter 264 - Testing Limits

The entire dock-like platform I was on shook the instant my hand touched the sapphire. Great rumbling sounds filled the air as long-dormant chains, bound up into massive coils creaked and groaned as they came to life, buried beneath the stone of the dock. It was so loud that it momentarily drowned out the constant crashing of thunder born from Tatsugan’s still flickering tail, somewhere far above us. I nearly stumbled from the shaking in the small control hub that I had stayed behind in, to facilitate the lowering of the barge that my friends and companions were scurrying around on. I could just barely see them through the howling gales of wind and rain, visible through the viewing slit on the wall in front of me.

They almost stumbled on the deck their commandeered barge, too. The great mass of chains holding the vessel suspended over the cliff face lurched in place, one corner of them falling suddenly. The barge listed to one side on suddenly slackened chains, sending my companions scrambling to hold onto anything they could in order to not fall into the churning inland sea far below them.

My heart lurched in my chest, but I needn’t have worried. Gradually, the rest of the chains holding the barge suspended began to slacken, and the orientation of the ship corrected itself, seemingly on purpose. I suppose the mechanism of this enchantment included something like that, for which I was very glad.

Through the viewport, I watched as the barge holding my friends began to slowly descend out of sight beyond the rim of the platform. The last thing I saw before it completely disappeared was Bella at the helm, turning around to look at me.

Across the distance and despite the peril we were in, the pirate Captain still had the temerity to wink in my direction.

And then she was gone.

I huffed a slight laugh and shook my head. The barge might be lowering the way we had hoped it would, but we weren’t out of danger just yet. The thundering of Tatsugan’s rattle had more than one purpose, after all.

It was meant to call every last damn monster that still resided on the island of Goryuen to his side.

And they were coming.

I could feel and hear it.

Just barely audible over the thunder and the creaking of chains as the barge crept ever downward, I could hear another sound, slowly growing louder. Roars and screeches sounded out in the distance as the Oni and the Wyrmkin that called this spit of land home rushed inward from the jungles, plains, and mountains. I began to feel a rumble in the stone beneath my feet as innumerable giant feet and clawed paws raced to the aid of their master.

I had deliberately kept the door to this miniature bunker open, after my companions had left. At the time, I had thought it would be better to have a clear eye on the mountain path stretching upwards, so I could know if any monsters were coming.

That was a mistake.

From one moment to the next, a veritable horde appeared on the horizon through the door. Countless Oni and Wyrmkin of all shapes, sizes, colors, and maturities swept down the path I and my companions had only moments ago carefully forded. Not a one of them displayed the caution we had, and as a result, I could see a number of different monsters go tumbling over the side of the path as the horde charged down towards me. And I had no doubt they were coming for me.

All of their beady little eyes were trained on me.

My own nearly bulged out of their sockets as I contorted my body, careful to keep my hand on the sapphire, and hooked one foot around the edge of the door. Full force, I slammed the heavy stone door closed in the doorway, cutting off my view of charging beasts. Seconds after, I was surprised to see bars that had been inset into the wall fall down to block the door from opening again.

I blinked at the unexpected windfall, as moments later, the horde arrived.

They slammed into the door, rattling both the frame and the bunker itself from the force of it. Even through the thick stone of the door and the walls, I could still hear the roars and the screams of the beasts as they slavered for the blood in my veins and Aether in my soul. Wyrmkin swarmed around the front of the bunker to claw at me through the small viewing port while Oni pounded their massive fists against the walls, cutting off my view of the caldera and the looming form of Mt. Gorenzan. I had to lean back from those reaching claws in order to avoid losing an eye.

I’d nearly experienced that once before, thank you. I had no desire for it to happen again.

Thankfully, although I could see the bars holding the door closed flex from the force of the blows, they held.

For now.

God damnit, couldn’t this mechanism go any faster?! I had no idea how long this was going to take! Just how far down did the barge have to go?!

I tensed as I saw cracks start to form in the bars holding the door closed. Thankfully, the door itself was fine, but those stone rods weren’t going to hold for much longer. And the moment they shattered, I was fucked.

I had to do something. With my full strength, with both Vis Maledicta Exactoris and Might of the Wyrdwood active, I think I could probably hold the door closed myself. But I had to keep a hand on the control gem. My friends were counting on me.

And I refused to fail them.

Unexpectedly, my core ring stirred from where it had been quietly focusing alongside me. It put forth an idea, and I only took a moment to consider the possibility.

I mean…it could work.

Maybe.

Worth a shot.

I held out a hand and called for my newest Skill.

Manifestation of Agony.

From my outstretched palm floated a ball of ghostly blue flame, that sprouted wings and limbs of crimson red thorn. It flapped those tiny wings for a moment, as my core ring smoothly transferred itself into the simulacrum born of celestial and terrestrial power. It looked at me, and somehow I got the impression I was meeting the eyes of the Sprite.

It nodded at me, and floated downwards to land on top of the sapphire I had my hand upon, careful not to burn me as it did so. Just as carefully, it lay both of its hands down on the gem as well.

Slowly, watching and listening for the chains of the platform through the viewport, I lifted my hand from sapphire and held my breath.

Nothing.

The chains kept up their steady descent, and the barge was still lowering.

My Sprite counted as a person able to keep the process going.

I exchanged a victorious smile with my Spire (at least I think it was smiling), but it didn’t last long.

Behind me, I heard a sharp, distinct cracking noise over the sound of banging and screeching. I shot a quick glance over my shoulder to see my fears realized. One of the bars had snapped, and the other looked like it was buckling in real-time. I didn’t waste another second thinking.

Instead, I activated both of my physical enhancement Skills and lunged for the door. I managed to lay both of my enlarged, scaly palms crawling with ghostly red thorns upon the stone just in time.

The second and last bar snapped, and suddenly I was holding back the force of dozens, or perhaps even hundreds, of monsters as they crushed themselves against the door.

The pressure was immense. Monstrous in the extreme.

It was like the mountains themselves were looming the whole of their ancient weight against the stone as I fought to keep my footing. I’d activated Might of the Wyrdwood at ten percent, and that just wasn’t enough. Desperate for more footing, I deliberately ruined my boots by digging my taloned toes through the leather and digging them into the stone beneath me.

It wasn’t enough. I could feel myself boring trenches in the floor as I was pushed back.

I jacked Might of the Wyrdwood up to fifteen percent.

Still, I struggled.

Twenty.

I grit my teeth under the strain of holding the Skill at that level, much less at the same time I was transformed.

I was pushed back an inch, enough for a crack to open between the door and the frame. Instantly, claws from the Wyrmkin on the other side of the door, scrambling frantically for the existence they felt on the other side.

Fine.

Life or death, then.

I ratcheted Might of the Wyrdwood up as far as I’d ever dared to.

Thirty percent.

I was peripherally aware of the crimson vines crawling across my body thickening, to the point something curious started to happen. They almost began to shape itself into something else, thickening on certain areas of my body. It was hazy, though, and besides.

I was far too busy screaming from the sheer exertion I was being placed under. My muscles had strengthed to such a degree that I felt my very bones begin to creak and groan inside my body. With just my surviving middle ring within my mind, all I could focus on was bearing with the pain as my evolved strength Skill nearly sundered my body.

But it was enough. I shoved forward, and the door moved easily to slide back into the frame. The scrabbling claws from the Wyrmkin were instantly snipped by the edge of the door, and I heard their owners screech bloody murder on the other side of it.

I allowed myself a brief moment of satisfaction before I got back to focusing.

I knew, I knew that if my concentration slipped for a moment, the Skill would waver and die. If it did, I was dead. The door would burst open, the Oni and the Wymrkin would tear me apart for my Aether, and then my friends would be stranded on a half-descended barge.

I had to focus. Focus through the pain, and noise, and the drain.

I could do this.

I could do this!

“I can do this,” I whispered to myself fiercely, setting my shoulders as firmly as possible. I leaned my head down, as I felt my body scream in protest.

And tried to meditate, through the agony.

In.

And out.

In.

And out.

In.

And.

Out.

I don’t know how long I stood in that position, leaning against the door and holding back the proverbial tide. I was lost to the passage of time in my concentration.

But, eventually, I became aware of a heat floating somewhere to the right of my cheek. That broke me from my meditation, and I exhaustedly raised my head to find my Sprite hovering there.

It was pointing frantically over its shoulder, unable to verbalize its frustrations. I looked behind me briefly to see what it was gesturing towards to find that the sapphire gemstone as large as a baseball had gone dark. I could feel no more Aether running through it. I didn’t know what that meant, for a moment, and when I realized what it did, my eyes widened and I nearly lost my grip. Both on the door and on my Skill.

The descent was over. The barge had to have reached the inland sea.

But…

Now what?

It occurred to me that I had never formulated an escape plan once I’d accomplished my goal. I was, perhaps, now doomed unless I could fight my way through the horde on the other side of this door. If I was at full Mana, I might have been able to do that. But my stunt the other night with The Scintillant Blade, combined my keeping my Sprite active for who knows how long, meant I was dangerously low.

Shit.

However, my Sprite came through for me once more. It gestured excitedly up at the ceiling, and I followed its fire and thorn fingers up to find...

What looked like an escape hatch.

I blinked tiredly at the sight. I hadn’t even noticed that thing until now.

Huh.

I…guess the ancient Kawamarans had realized they would need a quick egress.

The Sprite zipped up to it to try and move the stone lever that kept it locked shut, but it wasn’t strong enough. I moved my tired body as quickly as it was able and shifted to where I was keeping the door shut with my back, and when I did, I lifted one hand to point at the same lever the Sprite was struggling against.

And cast Thorn Grapple.

The length of thorny vine shot from my hand and wrapped around the handle at my will. Once it was secure, I yanked on the lever. A grinding sound echoed out above me and a lock must have come loose, because my Sprite was suddenly pushing the small rectangular door open with ease. In moments, I heard it thud open on top of the bunker’s roof.

But I never let go of my vine. It was still tied to the other side of the lever, trapped under the little escape hatch.

I took a deep breath.

Alright.

Let’s do this.

In an instant, I did multiple things. Almost as if I was in slow motion, I leaped forward from the door with all of my strength, until I was standing underneath the open hatch. Behind me, I could hear the door slam open, and monsters began to pile through the now-open stone frame. At the same time, I leapt upward, while at the same time, I urged my grappling Skill to retract as quickly as it could. In a fraction of a second, I found myself sailing up and out of the hatch, but not before I felt a claw scrape through my pants and against the armored scales of my transformed self.

I landed on the roof of the bunker, and with my Sprite’s help, I frantically closed the hatch behind me and locked it again with the lever that was on the outside of it.

After that, I barely took a moment to consider the horde of monsters that had overtaken the docks down here.

Some of the surrounding Oni were nearly as tall as this building and were starting to look my way.

I didn’t stick around long enough for them to make a grab at me.

Instead, using the strength from Might of the Wyrdwood, still at thirty percent, I leaped forward, snapping my wings open as I did so. In moments, I had soared along the roof of the cavern.

Out into the storm.

That turned out to be a mistake.

<<Chapter 263 | Table of Contents | Chapter 265>>

Chapter 263 - Race Against Time (+ANNOUNCEMENT)

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!

I haven't said anything up to this point, but some months ago, I signed up with a publisher with the intent of taking Sins of the Forefathers to a broader audience. That publisher is called Level Up Publishing, and I'm happy to announce that after months of production, the book is ready for release!

I'm pleased to announce that on December 20th, 2024, the first book in the Sins of the Forefathers saga, Chained Awakening, will be released on Amazon in both ebook AND print formats! Additionally, there is currently an audiobook in production from a certain well-regarded producer in the LitRPG scene that I am very excited about. I will announce more about the audiobook when production is close to wrapping up. However, what this means, is that Sins of the Forefathers will be stubbing on December 20th in order to comply with Amazon's exclusivity requirement, and the first volume will be coming down. For clarity, that's Chapter 1 to Interlude 3, which comes between 34 and 35.

I will be using the penname 'J.D. Campbell' on Amazon, and will be changing my Royal Road name to 'PreCursive (J.D. Campbell)' in order to cut down on confusion. I don't believe I'll be changing my Patreon name, however. I'll probably make another annoucement post in case not everyone sees this, so don't be surprised if you get another notification.

For now, I have the Amazon link for those of you who are interested in pre-ordering the December 20th release.

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving, Patreon. Even if it's a day late.

AMAZON

......................................................

A monstrous, titanic roar echoed out from above the clouds. The power of it was great enough that when it reached me, I had to clamp my hands down on my ears in pain, and I wasn’t the only one. The ears of my Gnollish companions flattened against their skulls, and for the first time, I heard them whimper in pain in a decidedly animalistic fashion. The rest of my friends were fine, considering they didn’t have the enhanced senses of the three of us, but they still winced from the force of it.

Because the strength of that cry was enough to send literal shockwaves through the clouds. The parted in the wake of them, allowing all to see the brief blue sky on the other side. I thought I could see something else up there in that single instant before the clouds rolled back in, something long, dark, and sinuous, but that moment passed.

And yet the clouds that swallowed up that vision of the heavens were angrier than they had been before. A wrath had filled the storm, as if it was affronted by the insects that crawled on the earth below.

As if it had been challenged.

Venix cursed, in a first from the Antium samurai. “Quickly, we must descend,” He said rapidly to everyone gathered on the rim. “We must cross the sea before the storm intensifies!”

I stared at him as if he had lost his mind, and I noticed I wasn’t the only one. “How? Look that that, man!” I said, pointing over the rim of the caldera at the disturbed waters before. They weren’t exactly raging along with the storm, but the great inland sea of Goryuen was certainly being influenced by it. “We’d be dashed against the rocks if we tried!”

“No, he’s right,” Kazuma said unexpectedly, staring off into the distance at the forces of the Order he was set to inherit. “There are barges set into great stone piers below us. Carved and enchanted by the greatest Kawamaran crafters of the ages, they have withstood the fury of Tatsugan for centuries. The beast has even been slain from the deck of them before. Well…supposedly.”

“Supposedly?” Bella demanded incredulously.

Kazuma grimaced. “With the near failure of the last Ryumetsu Matsuri, it is said that some of them were shattered.”

We all looked at Venix, who was halfway to an actual carved path that led downward I hadn’t noticed. He looked over his shoulder at us impatiently in response. “Hurry up! The time for talking has past! If we do not reach the piers before they are overtaken by the sea, all is lost!”

I nodded sharply at the rebuke, and broke out into a run alongside my companions as we followed Venix down the slope. We must have been running and nearly sliding down the rough stone steps for nearly five minutes before something interrupted our descent.

The roar came once again, this time louder. I knew what to expect from the last time, but I still grimaced. But that was just the precursor to what came next.

A great eye began to form in the blackened storm far above us. The furious, lightning-heavy clouds began to swirl together slowly at first, congealing into a great gyre in the sky. Faster and faster they swirled until the mass of air looked almost solid.

And then it burst, all at once, sending renewed shockwaves through the sky.

With it came the lord of this mountain, and I caught my first glimpse of Tatsugan.

Spearing down through the center of the storm was a titanic, serpentine form covered in sapphire scales so bright they shown through the dark of the storm. A long, sinuous body that must have been nearly a mile in length wound through the sky borne aloft by no wings at all, as it gracefully slid through the air. Somehow, someway, this king of the open sky flew through no visible mean, soaring gracefully under its own might. But it was so fast that I was barely able to see more than scant details about the Wyrm.

It flew down far enough to float over the open chasm that resided in the shadow of the mountain, endlessly coiling around itself, and there I was able to make out more details about the ancient foe of Kawamara.

Four limbs were visible on its winding body, all of them legs. Two nearer to the front of Tatsugan’s frame, with two closer to the back. But the whole of the body was so long and wound through the air and around itself so often that at times those grasping claws occasionally seemed oddly placed, in a disorienting optical illusion. Each of them possessed four great black claws that, from a distance, appeared larger and longer than a man.

Even though Tatsugan coiled through the air constantly, I still caught sight of the Immortal one’s tail. Similar to how the Wyrmkin possessed a rattle at the end of theirs, Tatsugan had one as well. Wrought larger, and covered in contrasting electric yellow scales, when it shook, it didn’t echo a sound similar to the rattling of beads.

No, instead, the sound of thunder echoed from that instrument. It echoed over the mountains, and for a moment, I experienced a sinking feeling. If Tatsugan could float through the skies, thunder trailing in his wake, then…

How often had the thunder we’d heard in this range just been the Wyrm patrolling his dominion? At any time, he could have swept down and devoured us, appearing through the blackness like the bolt of lightning he so resembled. There had to be a reason Venix had never warned us about it.

Come to think of it…

He had always cast a wary eye out to sky, whenever a particularly loud clap of thunder reached us…

But it was the head of the beast that caught my attention the most. Long, canine, and with an almost square-ish muzzle, it was parted enough to see rows and rows of razor-sharp, ivory-white fangs. Atop its head was a crown of horns, stag-like in appearance, so similar to the kind I had seen on the heads of countless Oni. They swept backwards from the near Calamity’s enormous forehead, the pointed tips sharper than any spear. Just behind that crest flowed a long, wispy shock of bright white hair that floated in the wind, trailing upwards like the flame of a candle.

Initially, that gargantuan head was turned away from us, staring out into the direction above us where I knew that the Order of the Solstice’s Flame was gathered to meet the Wyrm. I nearly had a heart attack when, for some reason, that horn-topped skull turned…

To face us.

I was immediately frozen in place by the amber-colored eyes that regarded I and my group, so far down below the king of this isle. I don’t know how deep we’d gone, but it wasn’t far enough to reach these supposed piers just yet, and its precious cargo of barges. But it wasn’t enough. It had still known we were here, and I was disturbed by the level of intelligence I could see in those golden depths.

This thing was as smart as any man, I would bet my life on it.

And that intelligence was bent towards hate.

Hate and frustration. We were intruding upon his grand ascension as so many had done in the past, and it hated us for that fact.

Thankfully…

It had bigger problems than to deal with the rats scurrying in the underbelly of its domain.

Namely, us.

From the direction I knew the Order was gathered, a tremendous shout arose, as if cast from hundreds of voices. Following that cry came a great wave of mingled Mana and Ki, ignited into a sizzling flame larger than a castle.

It washed over the floating form of Tatsugan, and the Wyrm reared back with a pained roar that shook free loose stones above us on the path. Liora had to jump out of the way as a stalactite that had been hiding beneath an overhang above was shook loose, to fall onto the spot she had been standing only moments ago.

Murder in every line of its titanic body, Tatsugan thankfully turned away from us to glare in the direction of the Order forces. Its monstrous rattle began to shake constantly, sending out waves of booming thunder with every twitch, so loud that it threatened to drown out the world.

Venix had to draw us close to be heard, and even then he was shouting at the top of his lungs. “WE CANNOT LINGER!” He outright screamed. “THE THUNDER IS A SIGNAL! IT CALLS TO EVERY LAST REMAINING ONI AND WYRMKIN ON THE ISLE! THEY SHALL OVERRUN US IF WE DO NOT REACH THE MOUNTAIN!”

My eyes widened at his words, and I stopped caring about how loud it was. If I had to choose, I would rather grow deaf from this cacophony than be ripped to shreds by a monster horde akin to what I had experienced during the Break Stone incident.

I could always get my ear drums fixed. But not a missing head.

We hurried downwards, as above us, I caught a glimpse of Tatsugan lunging forwards to snap at the Solstice’s Flame. It crashed into a shield of pure Ki that had suddenly manifested to stop it, sending a shower of sparks erupting from the point of impact that floated downward into the inland sea.

Above the sound of Tatsugan’s pained screech and the cracking of thunder, I thought I could just barely make out the ringing of mad, mad laughter.

My companions and I sprinted onwards down the rain-slick path carved into the walls of the caldera, surrounded by drifting motes of firey orange Ki. The sounds of battle rang out above us as, at last, we reached the end of our ancient road. It opened up into what seemed like a harbor built right in the middle of an enormous hollow in the cliff-face. It was both incredibly primitive-looking…

And oddly advanced, at the same time.

It was constructed entirely of carved stone in the Kawamaran fashion, with three distinct segments. There was what looked almost like a harbor masters office, a small squat building at the back of the entire edifice that almost looked like an ancient bomb shelter. It had a single door chiseled into the side of it, and the front possessed what looked to be a view slit carved near where eye slit would be on a human man.

But it was what we came here for that caught my attention the most.

Hanging from the roof were two gigantic wooden barges, suspended by a complex arrangement of thick forged steel chains larger around in the width than a horse. They hung from massive steel rings that had been driven deep into an overhand growing from the cliff face. Beneath the barges was nothing but open air, and they were swaying in the fierce winds that buffeted even this cavern. The chains that held them suspended from the cavern’s roof led all the way to the back of the cavern, where I could see deep, deep recesses built into the floor. In those recesses I could hear the clink of an impossible amount of chain.

I couldn’t help but noticed there was a third ring in the ceiling, from which an empty chain danced in the fierce gales.

I guess one of the barges had been lost in the last Ryumetsu Matsuri.

For a moment, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. These barges that were going to take us to the island were meant to be lowered all the way to the inland sea? That was…

“That’s crazy,” I whispered to myself, unheard by anyone in all the din.

I was knocked out of my shock by the feeling of a strong hand shaking my shoulder. Looking up, I saw that it was Azarus, my dwarven friend shouting wordlessly into the thundering of Tatsugan’s tail, pointing away from us as he did. I followed his finger to find that Venix was leading everyone else towards that small structure near the well of chains. At his urging, we hurried after them.

Once we were inside, I helped Azarus swing the heavy stone door closed behind us, shutting out at least a good half of the thundering. It was still audible, but we could at least speak in here.

Venix didn’t waste any time. He strode over to what looked like a large, fist sized glowing sapphire set into what looked like a tablet attached to a plinth of stone. There were two other columns as well, each with their own gems set into the tablets. One was a ruby, and the other an emerald. But the ruby had lost its light, while only the emerald and sapphire still possessed the glow of what my senses told me was an incredibly complex enchantment. Once the Antium had reached the sapphire tablet, he turned to face us with a grave look on his chitinous features. “One of us will have to stay behind.”

I blinked at the announcement, but it was Kazuma who pushed to the front. “What? What do you mean, stay behind?!”

Venix was unfazed in the face of his outrage. “These gems control the lowering of the barges. One gem for each barge. Contact must be maintained the entire time with the gem in order for them to reach the sea. The barge will automatically detach once it touches down.”

Kazuma paused. “Ah. I…did not know it functioned that way.” The younger samurai looked decidedly lost for a moment.

“I volunteer,” Venix immediately offered. “As the strongest, I am most likely to survive the coming waves of beasts. I should be the one to stay behind.”

His words caused an awkward air to descend on the group at the implicit offer of sacrifice.

I ignored it.

“Don’t be stupid,” I said sharply, catching Venix’s attention. I also ignored the warning look in his eyes. “I can fly, damnit. Let me do it. I’ll lower everyone else, and then when it’s done, I’ll just dive off the side and break the fall with my wings.”

Venix blinked, looking to be nearly thrown off course and grasping . “But…the storm…”

I waved him off. “Better than the alternative. You’re not going to throw your life away for no reason. I won’t let you.”

“Yeah, that’ll work,” Renauld said dryly. “Let’s go with that.”

The Antium samurai quieted at that, almost appearing to be chastened, but he eventually nodded. “We shall take the blue barge,” He said, acquiescing.

At his direction, he and the rest of my companions opened the door once again and shuffled out, shutting the stone behind him.

Once they were gone, I strode over to the viewing port and watching as all of my friends (and Kazuma) leapt or were carried up to land on the deck of the hanging barge. Once everyone was aboard, I watched as Bella hurried up to the command deck of it, apparently at Venix’s direction, before said ant man turned to wave at me.

I took that as my cue, and nodded sharply to myself, turning around and walking back over to the sapphire. Once there, I took a deep breath to steady my nerves.

And placed my left glove left hand on top of the sapphire.

Let’s do this.

<<Chapter 262 | Table of Contents | Chapter 264>>

Chapter 262 - Challenge the Mount

If it was even possible, I think the rain was coming down even harder today than it had been yesterday.

That struck me as a bad sign.

From the moment Tarus had crested the horizon behind nearly black clouds, we’d been marching along the ridgelines once more. Only this time, we could barely see in front of our faces from the curtains of water falling from the sky. The wind screamed and howled all around us as it buffeted our balancing forms, making our footing even more treacherous than it had been yesterday. The elevation was increasing as we navigated the winding ridgelines, moving ever closer to Mt. Goryuen, the shape of it barely visible in the distance.

At the same time, the path changed as well. The ridgelines were getting closer together, to the extent that I think I would have been able to jump from one to the other with a single, wing-assisted jump. The result was that the space between the mountains, and thus the valleys visible below us, were becoming steeper as well. As such, the rivers of rainwater flowing through rushed ever faster, racing towards the central inland sea.

We stopped, briefly, to watch as one particularly fierce example raged below us. In those rushing grey depths, I could see dozens and dozens of boulders being tossed to and fro as if they were nothing more than cotton balls caught in the wind. They dashed against the walls of the valley, sending shockwaves up to meet us and threatening our precarious footing. Some shattered, some didn’t, but I was sure plenty already had. Those waters had to be filled with countless shards of stone rushing at hundreds of thousands of stony daggers, hidden just beneath the surface. These rivers had to be a veritable blender.

I caught Azarus’s eye, standing up there, and wordlessly jerked my head towards the central peak that dominated the skyline, even through the storm.

Just as wordlessly, he decisively shook his head.

I see.

All of this…it made me wonder just how dangerous the inland sea would be.

Would those same rocky knives shred us, if we had to dive for the bunker? We would just have to wait and see, I suppose.

Because of all of this, our progress was slower, far more careful than it had been even yesterday. It had to be. We couldn’t risk anything less, honestly.

We’d already had one close call, about halfway through the day. Renauld’s relatively lower Dexterity than the rest of the party finally caught up with him. The party was navigating one precarious ridgeline when we came upon a break in the path, as if a great blow had reached out to shatter the mountain before us. We couldn’t go back, because this had been the only path forward, and Venix insisted this was the right way. As a result, we had to jump the gap.

Renauld was stubborn. He claimed he could make the jump with no problem, and since he hadn’t slipped so far on our trek, we had no reason to disbelieve him.

That was a mistake.

When he jumped, the Gnoll only barely reached the edge of the gap. But he landed on the very edge of it, and lost his balance. I was watching him at the time, and as our Healer windmilled his arms frantically, eyes widening in panic as he slowly tipped backward, I caught him.

Barely.

And only by the sleeve of his robe. If it hadn’t been for Bella flashing to my side and helping haul Renauld up, I think my friend might have slipped right out of his clothes and tumbled down the mountainside. The rushing waters weren’t even that far below us, now, with as inland as we’d gotten. They’d been rising higher for a while now, and he would have been dead if he’d fallen in. Luckily, the two of us managed to haul him back up onto the ridge everyone else was waiting on. The Healer thanked us profusely, and after a short rest to catch our breath, we got back underway.

But not before I shot Kazuma, Renauld’s nominal protector, a pointed look. He looked away in shame, catching my meaning. The next time we came upon a break in the path, he offered to ferry Renauld across, and after his close call, the Gnoll didn’t protest.

It was about halfway through the day that the situation changed.

The Wyrmkin found us.

The serpentine, white-haired hounds appeared as if out of nowhere, expertly camouflaged by the storm. If was as if the proto-Revenants were embraced by the storm, lovingly hidden in it’s embrace as they stalked us across rain drenched plateaus and ridgelines. I think it was only thanks to the enhanced acuity I’d inherited from my mutated, nearly elven ears, that I heard the crunch of their claws, as they climbed the nearly sheer cliff-face behind us.

They were trying to ambush our back lines, which I was a part of.

I whirled to look behind, just in time to watch as a pack of Wyrmkin slunk over the ridge. Seeing me notice them, they abandoned their attempts at stealth and charged our position. I shouted as loud as I possibly could to be heard over the wind and the rain, and thankfully, my companions heard me.

After how many times we’d encountered the Wyrmkin out in the jungle, we were used to their tricks by now, and they were dispatched, albeit with a bit of trouble. It wasn’t even because of the monsters themselves. It was our footing that was more precarious.

Once the last of the Devout Wyrmkin were defeated, I breathed a sigh of relief and turned back around, only to be surprised once again. I had barely noticed in the midst of battle, but Venix hadn’t been with us. Briefly, I’d thought it odd, but just assumed more of the Wyrmkin were attacking from the other side.

Turns out, I was right. Only it wasn’t a Devout he was fighting.

It was something else.

I only caught a glimpse of the thing before Venix’s blades decapitated its horse-sized head, but what I saw was different. The Wyrmkin that my Antium friend was dueling was almost centipede-like. It was longer, with more legs than the usual four that these creatures had. It wound out nearly ten feet in length, and its jaw was longer if only to hold nearly forearm-length bladed fangs.

Still, its azure scales were no match for Venix’s blade, and he took its head clean off its disgusting shoulders.

Bella was the first to break the silence, as the apparent Wyrmkin puffed into greasy black miasma, nearly immediately washed away by the rain. “The hells was that?”

I didn’t blame the woman for the disgusted note in her voice. I’d felt a shiver run down my own sine from revolting the thing was.

Venix sheathed his four blades and turned to face us with a frown on his chitinous features. “A Profane Wyrmkin. The evolved, Prime version of Tatsugan’s spawn. The lesser Devout’s to the rear were only a distraction for the greater to pounce to the front. Be wary. They stalk these ridges in droves, each of them leading packs of their own.”

Shit. I hadn’t heard that thing approaching us at all. And here I had been all proud of myself for catching the Devouts in their stalking. Turns out, I had been meant to.

Now that we knew what was waiting for us out here, we were all warier in our trek. Good thing, too, because that was far from the last time we encountered groups of Profanes and Devouts on the way to the mountain. On three more separate occasions, the Wyrmkin tried to ambush us in one way or another. Either by repeating the tactic of creeping just under the ridgeline, by outright charging at us across them, or, in one particularly memorable battle, they jumped down at us from a mountaintop that was at a higher elevation than our own.

Still, we dealt with them all the same.

They were fine gristle for the mill that was our advancement, in the end.

Until finally, finally we reached the destination we had been driving towards all this time.

Mt. Gorenzan.

……………………………..

We stood upon the edge of the great bowl and stared out at the sea that churned beneath us.

It was…gigantic. Titanic in scale.

I couldn’t even see the far edge of what could only be the largest caldera I had ever seen, much less been to. It had to be nearly fifty miles in diameter at the very least, with a depth nearly as impressive. Mt. Umetsuji had absolutely nothing on the depression that Mt. Gorenzan rose from.

And rose it did.

Mt. Gorenzan was, I think, the single largest mountain on either Earth or Vereden. It had to be. The largest mountain from my birthhome had nothing on Gorenzan. This was a true gigalith, a remnant from an age where Vereden had been nothing but furious molten rock and toxic gasses. Even with the depth of the caldera that it rose from, maybe only two-thirds of the mount itself was visible before it pierced the cloud cover. There were huge swaths of the upper reaches obscured from view by the angry black clouds of the eternal storm that raged at the direction of Tatsugan, and even then. Even then, the base of the mountain that was visible was titanic in the extreme. Quiet estimations from an awed Azarus were that the base of the mountain, obscured by the floodwaters as they were, had to be fifty miles wide at the least.

That was a scale I don’t think a human mind was truly capable of comprehending.

I sure couldn’t.

Stretching out in a nearly unbroken line for miles around us was the rim of an absolutely massive caldera, filled with the floodwaters we’d seen raging in countless valleys for days now. Maybe some twenty miles away from us, just barely visible, we could see where the rim of the ridgeline had broken.

A great, jagged slash in the caldera wall was letting in countless tons of grey water that fell into the sea hundreds of feet below us. It looked almost as if an unbelievably massive sword had carved down into the face of it to scar the surface, and the blood that rushed forth was the storm. If I looked around the caldera walls, I believe I could see that this was the normal life cycle for the inland sea. There were similar-looking gashes in the walls that looked to have been completely closed off by the detritus of the range.

Countless ones, in fact. Honestly, the ridges were more dam than they were wall, after I don’t know how many centuries of fracture, then cementation, then fracture again.

There was at least one bit of good news.

The gash was, in a way, healing. All of the silt and stone and boulders I had observed in those rushing mountain valleys were good for something, at the very least. It was gradually clogging up the break in the wall that water flowed in through, slowing the rise of the sea. Currently, the sea had yet to reach the halfway point of the mountain, far below us in the yawning chasm of the caldera.

Of the Immortal Returning Wyrm, I saw nothing. No roosts, no scales, no strands of hair of the beast that had slain Venix’s master were visible on the mount. It might just be that it didn’t live this far down on Gorenzan, that we could see it. Its lair might be above the roiling black clouds of the storm it had conjured.

Maybe.

I couldn’t help an ominous feeling all the same

For all of Azarus’s doomsaying, we might just have beaten the storm to the bunker door in truth.

I felt a smile cross my lips as I exchanged happy glances with the rest of my companions. We’d done it.

At least…

I thought so.

Our smiles didn’t last long.

Maybe fifteen or so miles away from us on a distant plateau that overlooked the caldera, I saw it.

A bright, red glare that pierced through the gloom of the storm. Its malevolent glow was cast by what looked to be a mystical flare of some kind, illuminating a full half of the caldera in crimson light.

Visible on that plateau was the Order of Solstice’s Flame. The entirety of their forces were gathered in neat lines and rows, almost military-like in their discipline. Across the gap I could see their armor gleam in the light of the flare they had lit, and at the front of their ranks, I could see a single, solitary figure. Because of the distance, I couldn’t make out any features on them, but I didn’t need to, to know who they were.

The gigantic slab of metal he called a sword, thrust into the stone, told me the identity.

“The challenge…” I heard Venix breathe, standing not far from me. I opened my mouth to ask him what he meant, but I didn’t get a chance.

A roar answered me instead.

<<Chapter 261 | Table of Contents | Chapter 263>>

Chapter 261 - Spritely Companions

The next morning, I took the time to check my Status as we were breaking down our hastily erected camp on the edges of the plateau. While my outer ring was yanking out pegs and folding the canvas, my core was contemplating my gains.

You have gained seven levels!

You are now level 142.

You have gained the General Talent, Flight!

Flight has reached level 1!

General Weapons Proficiency has reached level 3!

You have 70 unspent Virtue points.

Level 140 Class ability inherited.

Would you like to review your Status?

Y/N.

A flying Talent. I was…a bit surprised to see that, to be honest. To my understanding, flying was a pretty damn rare ability for most classers to have. Grey didn’t have one, I believe, while Honoka did. That was the level of strength where incredibly profound abilities could manifest that would allow you to take to the sky. But apparently, there was an associated General Talent with the ability to fly. I shouldn’t have been, though. If there was a degree of physical skill and complexity to a task, then there was a Talent associated with it.

For all of its flaws, the System was inclined to elevate such things.

As I noted the increase in General Weapons Proficiency with a sense of satisfaction, I got the relatively mundane act of allocating my Virtue points out of the way.

Then, I could see what my new Class ability was.

Name: Nathaniel Eugene Hart

Titles: Unbound Liberator, Calamity Slayer

Level: 142

Age: 25 Sol

Race: Human (Precursor)

Affinity: Terrestrial/Celestial

Classes: Thornblade Acolyte (Uncommon)

Professions: Aetherial Melding

Health: 2010/2010

Mana: 64%

Vitality: 201

Strength: 100

Spirit: 60

Dexterity: 342

Perception: 201

Intelligence: 463

Wisdom: 463

Free Points: 0

Options: [Talent Page], [Skill Page], [Profession Page]

I grimaced to see that even after hours of rest, my Mana was still only at sixty-four percent. Even with all of my points in Wisdom, with all of it’s ability to increase the well of Mana available to me and regenerate it, the pool was still that low. It made me wonder just how much I had used last night maintaining my ethereal sword-staff, powered by The Scintillant Blade. I could only chalk that up to my poor ability to channel the refined Aether.

However…

Something curious I had noted ever since I’d breached the level one-hundred mark was that every new Virtue point I gained just…didn’t feel the same anymore. As the numbers on my Status sheet pumped up higher and higher, the impact just wasn’t as stark as it had been. Sure, I still felt stronger, mentally quicker, and more powerful in general with each level up. But the difference wasn’t as stark as it used to be. When I had just gained my Status, and hell, even months afterward. Whenever I gained just one level, the increase in overall strength had been a nearly euphoric sensation. Not anymore, though. Now it was starting to feel like more of a noticeable surge through my body and soul, not unlike caffeine was being injected into the firmament of my existence.

It made me wonder if Virtues had diminishing returns.

A thought for later, though.

Time to see what new present the System had gifted to me. Hopefully, it was a Skill this time. Some of my older ones saw limited use, these days, and I could use more options in combat. That was especially true because I was having my difficulties in channeling my Mana, even though I was now a true Mage.

Thankfully, the System didn’t disappoint.

Just…not in the way I was expecting.

Level 140 Class Ability (Thornblade Acolyte)

Manifestation of Agony (Skill): Grasp heaven and earth, and inflict it upon the wicked.

What the fuck did that mean? That was such an incredibly odd description for a Skill of mine, beyond even the strangeness I’d received in the past. I had no idea what this Skill was, or what it did. The vagueness of the description was the most extreme example I had seen from the System yet.

“Screw it,” I said aloud, as my companions and I finished packing up the rest of our camp, with Liora being the last holdover. Once again, the former assassin had been brewing another kettle of travel tea for those of us inclined. I was waiting for my own cup to be finished, so I was standing closest to the Gnoll woman as she crouched next to the embers of our campfire in the open air of the plateau. At her curious look, I smiled wryly at her. “I have to test a new Skill. You know how it is.”

Understanding crossed Liora’s furred face, and she gave me an expectant look as she poured a cup of tea for herself.

Ha. I guess I was the morning entertainment.

Fine by me.

I called on my new Skill, pointing off in the direction of the plateau’s edge, just to be safe.

Manifestation of Agony.

In the palm of my hand a ball of ghostly blue fire erupted into being, roughly as large as a baseball. I was so startled by this that my hand instinctively flinched away and somehow…dropped the fire. But it didn’t dissipate like I was expecting it to. Instead, it floated away to hover in front of me and began to shift and morph before my eyes. To my astonishment, the ball of fire contorted until it was vaguely human-shaped, if not a featureless kind. Four limbs, a torso, and a head shaped from strangely familiar blue flames floated in the air, and then it changed even more.

Crimson red thorns erupted from its back, rapidly shaping into what looked like a pair of tiny bird wings. From the chest, or rather heart area, more of the familiar crimson barbs sprouted to crawl up and down the thing's body. They spiraled up and down its minuscule limbs, giving more definition to whatever this was. When the thorns were finished, the resulting creature almost looked like a flaming blue fairy, imprisoned by bloody thorns.

It floated in front of me, and to my astonishment…

I could control it.

There was an odd mental link emerging from the creation connecting itself to my mind, born by an invisible thread of Mana. Through it, I could feel the thing and give it rudimentary commands. At my urging, it flapped its wings, sending it to hover over everyone’s head. They stopped their preparations for travel in order to look up at the ball of fire and thorns, watching as I did my best to do a figure eight with it. The thing trailed blue sparks through the air, in an oddly enchanting manner.

Renauld wandered up to me, looking at my creation inquisitively. “Hey, a Sprite Skill. Don’t see those every day.”

The apparent ‘Sprite’ stopped in midair, as I turned to my Healer friend with a raised eyebrow. “You know what this thing is?”

The Gnollish man nodded, accepting a cup of tea from Liora. “Yeah, I’ve seen a few of these before. They’re almost always a Rare quality Skill, so, you know. They’re a bit rare. Sprites are a Skill manifestation that can happen with Magi classes, used mostly as helpers. People who are really good at Animancy Magic can kinda sorta copy Sprites, but they’re not as good. I don’t have one myself. Healers don’t usually get them, unfortunately. But I’ve always wanted one.”

I nodded to show my understanding, while Liora gazed up thoughtfully at my apparent Sprite. Her eyes flickered my way curiously. “But why blue flames? This is not the fire of your Racial, nor is it the common theming of your bloody thorns.”

I blinked at the question, looking at the Sprite again. I…

I think I knew why.

“It…probably has to do with my Ascension Ritual,” I mused, studying the Sprite as it hovered in midair.

I had never spoken about how Grey had needed to essentially save me, during the process of sparking my Mana. His own Celestial tainted Mana had been needed as a counterweight when we had made a mistake in designing my ritual. The result was that I had spontaneously acquired a secondary Celestial Affinity. Deep within my soul, the space was dominated as much by a ghostly blue fire as it was by the crimson red of my thorns.

In fact, they were much like the flames that comprised the body of my Sprite.

Huh.

I guess the System was paying attention to changes like that.

It was as I was explaining the odd circumstances of my ritual to my companions that something…odd happened.

Completely out of my control, the mental connection I had with it shifted somehow. It was as if the anchor had attached to something else.

The flaming figure jerked in midair and began to move around in a much more humanlike manner, raising its tiny bethorned fists to gaze at them in apparent astonishment. It fluttered through the air like a bird, drifting down to float in front of me.

It waved as I realized what was happening. I couldn’t help but laugh.

I had lost control of it. Or rather…

My outer ring had.

But not my core ring. Somehow, control over the Sprite had shifted towards my inner self. I couldn’t feel it within my mind, leaving me feeling oddly empty inside. The core throught ring granted to me by Ringed Mind had entirely migrated over to inhabit the fiery Sprite. To better prove that fact it visibly concentrated and definition appeared on its flaming fists, creating thorny fingers.

The little shit raised both middle ones and zoomed around me, appearing almost to cackle as it reveled in its freedom.

In response, I canceled the Skill, causing the Sprite to dissolve into a haze of blue and red mana. Moments later, I felt the now sulking core ring reappear within myself.

Ha.

Serves you right.

Renauld blinked at the odd display, while Liora just handed me my own cup of tea. I sipped at it, as the rest of my companions wandered up to join us, feeling very satisfied with myself.

That seemed like a pretty good Skill, if I did say so myself. I could see plenty of uses for an extra body, such as it was, that my core ring could occupy. Possibly even in combat.

I wonder what else the Sprite could do…

Still, it had one drawback. Keeping the Sprite active put a drain on my Mana. Even in the brief amount of time that the Skill had been running, I had felt it. It was slight, and nowhere near what the enhanced form of The Scintillant Blade required of me. But it was there, and it meant I couldn’t just leave the Skill running at all times if I wanted to be ready for anything.

My core ring was terribly disappointed by that.

My attention was stolen from my self-congratulation when Azarus nodded behind me. I turned just in time to watch as a figure exited from the ring of tents in the distance, on the other side of the plateau. From the familiar green and red battle robe the person was wearing, I could take a good guess as to who it was.

We stood together quietly, as the rising form of Tarus on the horizon cast a green pall through the ever present storm clouds.

Kazuma came to a stop in front of us, looking…incredibly exhausted, honestly. It looked like the samurai had been up all night, and after all the battle yesterday, I probably would have been wiped out as well if I didn’t get any rest. Even though Kazuma had been acting as a bodyguard for Renauld, that didn’t mean the other man hadn’t been fighting just as much as the rest of us.

Conspicuously, I noticed that the wrapped form of the Shōmetsu no Kiba was no longer on his back.

I suppose the Lord of the Higanashi Clan had made his decision on if he was going along with all of this.

He took a deep breath, and to my surprise, bowed slightly at the waist to us. “I…apologize for all the trouble,” He said tiredly. “I assure you, I had no idea as to my apparent plans of my…‘ancestor’.”

To my right, Bella snorted sarcastically. “Yeah, I think we could all tell.”

Kazuma ignored her. The two of them had never gotten along. Instead, he looked up, his eyes briefly lingering on Venix, before meeting my own. I held the gaze steadily. “The officers of the Order of Solstice’s Flame have been appraised, and affirmed their loyalty. The Order is preparing to do battle with Tatsugan, and there is no room for us in those plans. He has bid me to say that we should leave, and soon, if only to get a head start on the mountain.”

I nodded at that and exchanged a glance with my companions. Seeing no objections, I turned back to face him. “Will you be joining us?”

Kazuma was quiet for a moment, but he eventually nodded. “If you will have me.”

“I have no problem with that,” I said, bending down, picking up my pack, and swinging it onto my back to rest next to my staff. “C’mon, let’s go. Venix, if you don’t mind, could you lead the way? Since we’re closer to the mountain, I’m guessing you’re more familiar with the terrain.”

Venix tore his eyes off Kazuma long enough to nod at me. “Yes. Be aware, though, that although the Oni appear to have been culled, the danger is not yet passed. As we draw closer to the mountain, we shall begin to see more and more of the Wyrmkin. They are capable of evolving further than the Devouts we encountered in the jungles. That includes the spawning of Primes.”

We all nodded at his warning and followed after the Antium man as he led the way across the plateau.

Away from the Order encampment.

<<Chapter 260 | Table of Contents | Chapter 262>>

Chapter 260 - What Matters

“Thank ya kindly for retrievin’ the blade, descendent,” Shacklock said fondly, patting the shoulder of the frozen stiff Kazuma. “I woulda done it meself, but I might have ended up killin’ all those cats if I’d tried. This way, I haven’t pissed off the damned sun by killin’ his get.”

At that, Kazuma turned around to gape up at the man who had, apparently, fathered the founder of his clan centuries ago. “You knew where the sword was?! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

Shacklock shrugged. “Eh, easier this way. Pay it no mind, boy. Ya played your part well in this dance, and can sit it out from now on. Yer great-great-great-great-great-great grandad will see this out.”

Violently, Kazuma pushed his chair back from the table and spun to face his ancestor. “THAT WILL DO ME NO GOOD!” He shouted. “The entire reason I agreed to this expedition is to restore the honor of my house! If I don’t have the blade, what’s the point?! You’ll break it by using it!”

At this point, I was feeling a bit forgotten by the two of them, and I don’t think I was alone in that. By and large, the heads of the rest of my party were ping-ponging, watching the family drama. However, I noticed that Venix was looking…troubled. The Antium samurai had released his grips on his swords and had stood up to watch the two arguing men with a lost expression on his face. With the revelation that Shacklock was the ancestor of his long-dead master…

I could understand a bit of internal conflict.

Meanwhile, Shacklock wagged a finger at Kazuma, almost mockingly. “But ya see, boy, someone technically from the clan is going to slay the Wyrm. I’ll see this out, make sure the beast is dead, and I have some documents affirmin’ the relationship ya can present in court. AND,” He said loudly, overriding the protestations Kazuma looked to be gathering. “I’m not leaving ya with nothin’. In exchange for the sword, and slayin’ the beastie…you’re getting the Order.”

Kazuma froze, staring at Shacklock. “What?”

“Wel, I’m gonna need someone to lead my life’s work when I’m gone, eh?” Shacklock smirked. “Bein’ the last of blood, that means it should fall to you. Those documents also affirm that as well.”

Venix finally spoke, albeit quietly. “And your men will abide by this decision?”

The Antium was afforded an almost bored look, but Shacklock still nodded. “Oh, I’m aware of Wernstrom’s little plot. But it don’t matter. The rest of my officers will fall in line, and he’s being…dealt with, by those in my confidence.”

Dealt with. I…see.

Liora sucked in a sharp breath. “That patrol…they mentioned the Captain wasn’t here…”

Shacklock let out a somewhat…ominous chuckle. “Why did you kids think I was even out there, hunting useless beasties, eh? I sold my men a story about gatherin’ up all the Oni and slaughterin’ ‘em before we took on the Wyrm, so we could weaken him. Don’t work like that, o’ course. But most of ‘em don’t know better. I went out for some fun, found you kids and killed what was botherin’ ya, all the while the bulk of my men were out fightin’ the rest of the Oni in these mountains. Between us, there shouldn’t be many of the things left to bother with the final part of the operation.”

“That’s…” I trailed off, unable to properly verbalize what I thought of Shacklock’s plan. A part of me was pissed off at how easily the old monster had played…well, everyone involved. But the bulk of me just admired, and was a admittedly a bit jealous, of the feet of social and military engineering.

I don’t think I was able to keep my appreciation from my voice, judging by the sharp look Venix shot me, as well as the wink I got from Shacklock. Kazuma, meanwhile, was still frozen in place as his own plans were entirely wrecked, entirely in his favor. He didn’t have to sacrifice his life anymore, in exchange for elevating his family back to prominence within the Hinagan court. Now he was going to be returning as the leader of a powerful, if not exiled, Martial Order.

Still, the trade involved the sacrifice of his ancestral blade. I could tell that the situation weighed on him, from the conflict on his face. Notably, he didn’t protest though.

Shacklock cast an eye around at the disturbed expressions of most of our faces, either from the revelations about Grey or about how we’d been played, and just rolled his eyes. “Oh, it ain’t the end of the world, kiddies,” He said in exasperation. “By the time ya get to be my age, you get better at this kind of thing,” To my surprise, he then faced me and locked his beady black orbs onto my emerald ones. In a rare moment of complete seriousness, the madness seemed to fall away from the man. “Remember that, the next time you see him.”

I looked away.

I’m…not sure I could argue with that.

Shacklock interrupted the mood by clapping his hands. “Now! Here’s what’s goin’ to happen. You kiddies are going to keep my descendent safe by findin’ yer door, and keepin’ him with ya while this old man deals with the big bad dragon. Everythin’ will go down while yer all down there, and the rain will have died with the Wyrm. Well, if I don’t screw it all up, I suppose. We’re all in uncharted territory here. You lot can stay until daybreak, and I’ll be informin’ my officers about what’s goin’ to happen while ya hit the hay. Won’t take long, though. They already know ‘im.”

Kazuma looked up from his lap to stare at Shacklock for a moment. “Is that why you had me shadowing you all this time?” He whispered.

Shacklock just winked at his descendant.

……………………………………

After that, all of us but Shacklock and Kazuma filtered out of the command tent and found only hostile stares from the scattered soldiers huddled around their hissing cookfires. Without even needing to discuss the matter, we collectively decided to venture to the edges of the plateau in order to pitch our own tents.

Once we had finished, I was extremely glad we’d opted for a tent capable of housing an indoor campfire of our own. The smoke from the flames drifted up above us to pass through a one-way, enchanted membrane that let it out, but didn’t let the rain in. We hadn’t needed to do this up until now, considering the heat out in the jungle, but now it was very welcome. All of us were soaked to the bone and exhausted after a hard day’s march through the central range of Goryuen. Most of the time, people at our level didn’t need the rest that sleep could bring, especially after we had all taken the time to get some within the warm embrace of Mt. Umetsuji just last night.

But I think we were all going to sleep tonight.

First, though, everyone had stripped down to their underclothes to dry them on a line strung up in our tent, while we warmed ourselves in front of the fire. I wasn’t even phased by the near nakedness of my companions, by this point. There was little room for privacy on an extended expedition like this. It was nothing I hadn’t seen before, and the closeness which Bella and I sat together wasn’t anything new to my friends. Eventually, we’d stopped sneaking around when it was obvious that there was no need for it. Everyone here knew each other, by now.

It must have been obvious, to them. So, while Bella and I weren’t quite cuddling, we were sitting closer together than was strictly appropriate for friends.

The only noise in the tent was the silent scribbling of Renauld and the bubbling noise of liquid originating from above the cookfire. None of us had spoken, ever since we had finished crowding around the campfire and set a pot of travel stew to boiling. Hanging next to it was a kettle with collected rainwater inside, which Liora had set for tea. From extended contact with the Gnoll woman…I had learned that she often sought it out, when she was stressed.

I understood, that.

I broke the silence, staring into the depths of the fire without blinking. “So. We were played.”

Nobody spoke up to refute me, although Azarus grunted in a familiar manner.

“I…” I continued thoughtfully. “I’m not sure I care.”

That drew a reaction. Bella turned to me with a raised, doutful eyebrow, while I received similar looks from the others.

I elaborated.

“Look. All of this?” I said, gesturing with a wide sweeping arm. “This entire thing with the Solstice’s Flame and Kazuma and Shacklock? None of this was in our plans. Sure, we might have gotten a little manipulated by a centuries-old madman-”

I heard Renauld snort across the fire from me, and mutter something under his breath. All I heard was, “…a little…”.

I pretended I didn’t hear him and kept speaking. “-but we’ve come out of it mostly fine. That’s done, though. Shacklock got what he wanted out of us, which seemed to be keeping Kazuma out of harms way while he purged the dissidents in his Order. Now we can get back to doing what we came here for. We’ll find the bunker, go down there with the help of our extra in Kazuma, find what I’m looking for, and then leave. All the while,” I nodded over to Venix, who didn’t look up from his brooding. “Shacklock will be dealing with the proto-Calamity above us. Every problem we have will be wrapped up nice and neatly, and we’ll probably have the gratitude of the new leader of a historically powerful Martial Order. Excuse me. They call them Sects here, if I’m not mistaken.”

“You are not,” Venix said quietly but didn’t refute my points.

Liora removed the kettle silently, and set to brewing a few cups of her personal favorite blend. When done, she handed one out Venix, and to me. “Cynical,” She said quietly. “But pragmatic.”

I accepted the cup and cupped it between my hands. “Am I wrong?”

Liora looked away in answer.

I hadn’t thought so. Liora and I…we were similar, in a variety of ways. I sipped at my cup, and as I felt the warmth travel through me, I couldn’t help but sigh and cast a glance at the tense form of Venix. “Did you have any idea that Shacklock was…?” I trailed off, but he understood anyway.

Venix flicked his compound eyes up briefly, before looking down. “The living ancestor of my master?” He asked mirthlessly. He shook his head. “No. No, I did not.”

“Speaking of…” Renauld said, closing his journal with a soft thump. “I’ve been wondering something, if you don’t mind answering.”

The Antium samurai stirred, but did not look up. “Speak.”

“How…did Gozen of the Twin Fangs die?” Renauld wondered aloud. The question caused Venix to tense, but he didn’t immediately burst into recriminations. That must have emboldened the Gnollish Healer. “Because we have no idea, and honestly? It might be helpful. It’s looking like we’re not going to be directly fighting Tatsugan, but that might change. We all know our luck.”

Hah.

Well, he wasn’t wrong.

Venix was quiet. He didn’t say anything for so long that I think all of us had thought he had dodged the question. Azarus was handing out bowls of stew by the time the Antium finally stirred from his contemplation and spoke. “He fell.”

Bella looked up from her bowl with a curious look. “What? Who fell?”

“My master. Lord Gozen Higanashi of the Twin Fangs.”

Renauld raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, but how?”

To my surprise, Venix actually huffed a small, humorless laugh. More a scoff than anything. “I’m being literal, Healer. My master died, falling from a great height. The impact upon the stones of these mountains killed him. His bones shattered, his organs ruptured, and every drop of blood in his body was washed away in the rains.”

If he was capable of it, I think Renauld would have turned green at that. “Oh.”

“Yes. Oh. Perhaps the favorite method of slaughter to the Returning One is that he loves to snatch his prey up in his great claws and take flight. Once he has climbed to a height to where even his great bulk is naught but a spec in the sky, he releases them. He races downward after, to keep pace with the falling form of his victim, in a cruel mockery of their plight.” Venix sighed heavily. “This is the fate that befell my master. I watched it all, helpless, from the sidelines. Every last minute of the plunge.”

I furrowed my brow, setting my bow down briefly. “How is that your fault? You’ve…implied that Gozen’s death was caused by a failing of yours.”

Venix lowered his head. “Because I was meant to be the Wyrm’s victim.”

Ah.

Everyone stopped their dinner to watch as Venix marshaled his courage to continue speaking. “I…” He started haltingly. “I was his squire, for the battle. It was not going…well. Many of my brothers and sisters had already died, at the height of the Ryumetsu Matsuri. If Shacklock has already culled the majority of the Oni before the battle, we can only be thankful. Because they came in great hordes on that day, and nearly everyone else was slain. It was one of the worst casualty counts that the Empire ever recorded for a Ryumetsu Matsuri. Near total decimation.”

I sensed a heartbeat approach the tent, but not enter. Instead, they lingered outside. Normally, I think Venix would have been able to sense them, but he was too absorbed in the tale. Liora noticed, though, and I shook my head minutely at her.

I recognized that heart.

“And so it came to be that my master and I were the last two of the cohort to survive, and the Wyrm was not yet slain,” Venix continued heavily. “I was the last remaining warrior capable of keeping the Oni from pestering my master as he dueled Tatsugan, blade against claw. However…the beast is clever. In a moment of inattention on my part, it must have darted for my unprotected back, as I dueled my own red giant. It snatched me up, and nearly, nearly made off with me. My master…he was noble indeed. He did his best to save me, leaping forward, blade in hand.”

“This proved to be his downfall.”

I internally winced at the choice of words as Venix continued his tale, staring off into space unseeingly. It looked like he was reliving that day once again, when he had so obviously done so time and again.

“I was bait, you see. With his other claw, the Immortal One grabbed my master and darted into the clouds. I feared that everything we had fought and sacrificed was for naught, all due to a moment’s inattention by my fool self. However…” A wan smile crossed Venix’s lips. “The Wyrm had only brought my master closer to his heart. All I saw were distant flashes of black void in the stormy sky, the signature activation of the fang. Then Tatsugan’s death scream, followed by a cloud of Miasma that I have never seen matched, racing across the sky to cover it in billows of umber smoke. And falling through that vile mist, I saw the form of my master, plunging towards Vereden’s surface. I knew he was dead, and yearned to retrieve his body and blade. But the Oni were not to be denied. I was alone, and they were still mighty and numerous. Shamefully, I fled for the beach, where the survivors were readying the ships for a retreat. The rest…you know. The Lady Shurenga found and recovered my master’s blade, and safe-guarded it for Lord Kazuma.”

It was Lord Kazuma, now, eh?

Venix fell silent after that, and retreated into mediation in the corner. I think Renauld was regretting his question a bit, from the expression on his furry face, but he didn't stop the Antium from his solitude. Instead, he just looked back down at his journal and started scribbling again.

At the same time, the presence outside the tent lingered for only a moment more before retreating back into the rain.

I wonder what you made of that story, oh Lord.

Still…there was something that I had noticed in that explanation, that I hadn’t until just this minute.

Shurenga…

She had never said a word about recovering Gozen’s body. Only the blade. All she had said was that the Shōmetsu no Kiba had lost its binding with Gozen’s death.

That was…curious.

<<Chapter 259 | Table of Contents | Chapter 261>>

Chapter 259 - Brothers

I gaped at Shacklock, and I noticed I wasn’t the only one. Similar expressions were on everyone else’s faces as well, from Azarus to Liora, to hell. Even Venix looked surprised at those words.

Shacklock was Grey’s brother?

The madman snorted at our perplexed expressions. “Oh not literally ye great sack of numpties. If I were the man’s blood-brother, I woulda had a much easier time of killin’ him.”

The hell did that mean?

A portion of the tension slipped out of the tent. Not all of it, of course. None of us looked to have forgotten the experience of Shacklock’s Mantle, and remained wary of the unstable geriatric.

I don’t think I would forget it for the rest of my life.

Bella scowled at him, clenching one hand tight on the goblet of wine one of the officers had left behind. “Then what do ye mean, blaggard?”

“Oh, you should understand better than the rest of these soft un’s, little girl,” Shacklock gestured around the table, before wagging a finger at Bella. “I’m talkin’ about the type of brother you find out on the sea. The man who ya come to rely on, when the fierce winds blow and the sea rises up to swallow ya. He who heaves on the ropes with ya and drinks from the same bottle. That is the brother I speak of.”

Bella’s brow shot up in realization, and she exchanged a look with me. “What?” She said, baffled. “You were a seaman?”

“A…pirate?” I asked slowly.

Shacklock shrugged, leaning back in his throne. “For a time,” He admitted casually, reaching down below him and groping for something. He withdrew a bottle, popped the cork, and took a swig. He made a face. “Gone sour, this has. Bah. Anyways, it weren’t for long, in the grand scheme o’ centuries. But it shaped the rest of me life.”

“I have never heard this before,” Venix said, speaking up for the first time. A frown had crossed his chitinous lips.

“Nor have I,” Liora admitted quietly. “There are no records of you having served as a pirate within the Kingdom, Sir Shacklock.”

“Like I said,” Shacklock said, surprisingly patient. “It were only for, oh, say…a decade? Thereabouts. Settle in for a tale, boys and girls. Consider this both the last will and testament of the Madman, as well as his confession. Cause I ain’t lettin’ ya leave until I’ve said my piece. I’ll kill the lot of ya if ya try and leave.”

My cheek twitched at the casual death threat. It was a good reminder that we were essentially his captives, right now.

“I was a crofter’s boy,” Shacklock started, almost wistfully. “Me mam died in childbirth, one o’ the rare few. I know, I know,” He said, chuckling at the odd expressions on a few of my companion's faces. “It don’t happen often, and it’s only somethin’ that does to those that deny a Status. She was apparently one o’ those loonies. I never knew her, but I did know my pa. Some relatives of mine told me her death made the man cold, and that’s a fact. My younger years were-the hells are ya doin’, boy?”

I had never seen such a baffled expression on the madman’s face before, as he stared over at Renauld. I followed his gaze to see that the Gnoll had pulled out a small diary and an ink enchanted quill from his pack. The entire time the old monster had been monologuing, my Healer friend had been scribbling quickly away, apparently writing down every word he said. At Shacklock’s interjection, Renauld looked up and shrugged at the attention. “What? I’m going to head back to the Academy sometime. I figure, this is as good as anything to hand in as an extra credit assignment for Professor Altaburry.”

I don’t think I was the only one to stare at Renauld in disbelief. Shacklock, for his part, just scratched his chin for a moment and then shrugged. “Well, I ain’t ever had a problem with Liam, despite being part of That Fucker’s staff. You can continue, boy.”

To my disbelief, Liora scooted her chair closer to Renaulds so she could look over his shoulder as he scribbled at incredible speed. I suppose higher education was the same even in magical fantasy land.

You learned to take notes quickly.

“Anywho,” Shacklock picked back up. “Where was I? My younger years, right. They was rough, and me pa was fond of his drink. The combination meant that I was out the door as soon as I had me Status. Now, the old homestead was further up north, and to us, Hollow Hill was the big city. I didn’t want to go to the big city. For all I knew, I would end up a scribes apprentice or some such nonsense.”

I…couldn’t help but see the irony in that statement. As I recall, Grey had told me that he had been bound to become a scribe’s apprentice himself, before becoming a pirate. It just made the similarities to the two men more stark, even with their enmity. I didn’t say that aloud, though.

I valued my tongue staying inside my mouth.

“I wanted adventure, instead. So I hiked my way towards the coast, and from there, I signed with the first crew that would take me out onto the drink. Turns out, that was under the flag of a piratin’ Captain that went by the sobriquet of Shiverarse.”

…what?

I wasn’t able to keep a small snicker down, and I wasn’t the only one. Azarus looked to be having convulsions, while Renauld had a massive smile on his furry lips. Liora looked away briefly to hide her own small one, while even Venix’s stern countenance had softened a little. Kazuma just had an expression of complete disbelief on his face, as if he couldn’t understand a word that was being said.

Meanwhile, Bella was shaking her head. “Pull the other one, old timer,” She said, clucking her tongue. “Ain’t no way a self-respectin’ Captain would call themselves such a thing. They’d be laughed outta Marrowmist if’n they tried.”

Shacklock wagged a finger at Bella. “Ah, but there’s the thing, gel. Marrowmist, or hells, any of the modern piratin’ ports weren’t a thing yet. It was all much looser back in the day than it is now. But I swear on me life it were true. The lads thought it was supposed to be about how the man would make people shake in fear or some such. Reality was, though, that the crew came to be known as the arse shakers. But the important thing was, I met another boy that had run off to join a crew at the same age as me. That boy’s name was Grey. He didn’t like his full name, at the time.”

So.

That was how they’d met.

Grand Marshall Shacklock almost looked wistful for a moment. “We were fast friends, as ya can expect. Shiverarse didn’t last long, as ya could rightfully expect. Just another haypenny captain without the sense the gods gave a rock. Ya know the type, gel.” He said, surprisingly handing the bottle of sour wine over to Bella.

She took a draw from the bottle and made a face at the taste. “Aye, I knew one particular bastard like that by the name of Longslip. Last I’d heard, he ran afoul of the Bluebacks. Had himself a short drop on a long rope.”

I stayed quiet, eyeing the two of them as they chatted almost as if they were old friends. I…didn’t have the experiences to relate, involving the world of piratry.

And I kind of didn’t want them.

“Always gonna be dumb bastards in the world,” Shacklock nodded easily. “Anyways, me and That Fucker signed up with another crew together, when he was gone. And then another, when he was gone. And on and on it went. Those were turbulent days, I’ll tell ya. Herztal wasn’t really a thing yet, and the Succession Wars were mighty fractious. Gods, it were ridiculous. Even the outlaws were tryin’ to get in on things, tryin’ to crown themselves a ‘Pirate King’. In the end, that…well, that ended up bein’ the problem.” He leaned forward, his eyes slipping away from Bella to rest on me once more.

A decidedly unkind smile crossed his lips.

“Your precious Greycton got in on the action,” Shacklock said, in a suddenly nasty tone. “Had himself more ambition than sense, back in the day. He were barely scratchin’ the hundred mark, and already thought he were fit to be King o’ the Pirates. Whitegull, he were callin’ himself, a name that survived even till these days. Man wasn’t even a properly schooled Mage yet, and I wasn’t a Cultivator. I’d trailed behind in the levels, ‘cause ya see…I’d found me own ambition beyond piratin’. A wife…and children.”

I began to get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. The room was silent, as well, with some of us barely breathing. Venix looked to be still as stone, while even Renauld’s scratching had stopped for a moment.

Shacklock stood up from his throne to lean, palms first, on the massive table he’d bragged about. The shadow he cast over us from the sconce behind him loomed large over all of us. “Funny that we’re here in Kawamara, even technically. It all went down in the riverlands, y’see. I’d hung up me hat and cutlass in favor of the plow, takin’ after me crofter pa. Got tempted by a wondrous lady by the name of Noriko. That Fucker even let me, his first mate, go easily with his blessin’s. I got her with child afore long, and we lived a blissful few years on a small patch up on the northern part of the mainland. One day, we had a little boy we named-” He suddenly stopped, and an almost lost expression crossed his face for a moment. It was as if the man no longer knew where we were, or even who he was. It passed, though, and his face hardened once more. “Ha. Don’t even remember anymore. Age robbed me of even that. But that ain’t the point. Point is, is that they were both slaughtered. By pirates, flyin’ the flag of the white gull.”

I closed my eyes, unwilling to meet the growing fury in Shacklock’s. Even though age had stolen some of the details from Shacklock, the hatred that infused every cell of his body had never faded.

I heard Bella set her bottle down on the table and flicked my eyes over to her. “How?” She wondered, calm in the face of the storm. “She on the sea in some way?”

“Aye,” Shacklock growled. “Her pa ran a fishin’ boat. It were how I met her in the first place, back in the docks of Hinaga. She went out with him one day, showin’ off our boy. Only…the Whitegull pirates were lookin’ to expand westward and make a name for themselves in these waters. One of That Fucker’s under Captains was lookin’ to make a name for himself, and no target was too small. And so a tiny little fishin’ boat, carryin’ what I loved most, got put to the blade.” He leaned forward, baring old and yellowed teeth. “And so I made sure that history would forget his name. Ain’t nobody remember him now. And when I was done with him, I went on a tear through That Fucker’s ranks. They was all guilty, as far as I was concerned. Especially That Fucker. It was because of me,” Shacklock thumped his chest, with one skinny fist. “That Greycton’s bid for a seastone crown died. He disappeared into the continent when I was done slaughterin’ his captains, and I never found him. Not till after the Sea Beast was done with its rampage. I was a bounty hunter and a Cultivator by that time, livin’ with nothin’ but hate in me heart, endlessly huntin’ him. Turns out, the man had gone legit, found himself a mentor, and had risen high in the crown’s esteem. He was untouchable by that point. I hated that. So, I made a decision. If I couldn’t take the man’s head, I would dedicate my life to ruinin’ all that he touched. I sought power and years so I could rise as high as he could, when he sought ‘em. When he joined the Crown’s initiative to found new ‘Martial Orders’, I did the same. Our two were founded in direct opposition to each other. And then, later, when he went on to join the Academy, I aligned my Solstice’s Flame more with the Army, who weren’t too happy the school was stealin’ their recruits.”

The tent was silent, in the wake of Shacklock’s somewhat…unhinged rant. I think we were all just absorbing what he’d said, honestly. All of us were, in one way or another, connected to Grey. In the same manner, we’d all known, technically, that he had also been a pirate for a long time. Tragedy followed in the wake of that life, but I…I had never wanted to think of what had come from Grey’s own stint.

And now the results were almost literally looming over me.

At least, until Shacklock slumped back down into his throne, looking more like a tired, sickly old man than he ever had before. He sighed. “I’ve been the hound nippin’ at his heels all me life, and me only regret is that Core Collapse is stealin’ that from me now. I’d be happy to do this for millennia more.”

Bella had been staring into the fire behind him silently for a while now. Eventually, she stirred. “Where does Cass fit into all o’ this? My understandin’ was that she used to sail with Whitegull.”

Shacklock waved her question away with one skinny hand. “Cassandra the Red was one of his under captains, the only one of them that turned on him in the end. She sailed off into the horizon once his bid started to get more bloody than she cared for. It’s why I never set meself after her head.”

He stopped talking after that, looking like he had descended into brooding on the past. Surprisingly, it was Kazuma who finally spoke up. The samurai had been silent for quite some time, considering how little relationship he had to all of the events spoken about. “Where do I come into all of this, Grand Marshall?” He spoke, sounding nervous for the first time since I’d met the man. “How did you conceive of your plan to slay Tatsugan permanently, using the Shōmetsu no Kiba?”

A small smile crossed Shacklock’s lips then, and the look he shot the younger man was almost fond. “Ya haven’t guessed yet, boy?” He chuckled. “Now, I mentioned that my wife and boy were killed by Whitegull’s crew, didn’t I? But I also said we’d had children. As in, more than one.”

A bolt of realization stole down my spine, and I don’t think I was the only one in the room. Venix suddenly leaned forward, nearly gaping at the old monster. But Kazuma, for whatever reason, hadn’t connected the dots yet.

Or didn’t want to.

“Y’see, my son was my second born from Noriko. My firstborn,” Shacklock said, almost playfully. “Was a little girl by the name of Higanami. When I left these shores, I left her with her uncle. A good man, who raised her into a fine warrior.”

Kazuma choked on his own spit. “That’s…that’s the name of my clan’s founder…” He breathed.

Slowly, Shacklock stood up from his throne-like chair. There was a sharpness that filled that air that almost hinted as to the possibility of his Mantle, as he nearly glided over to stand behind the chair of the shell-shocked Kazuma. Almost gently, he took the wrapped package off of the samurai’s back and held it in one hand for a moment, looking at it. Eventually, he unwrapped the hilt, exposing it to be intricately crafted of what looked to be obsidian and gold.

He rested one hand on the blade, which I had been told would violently reject those not bound to it.

Nothing happened.

Shacklock turned to face me of all people, and winked.

“Guess that bloodline bond works backwards as well, eh?”

<<Chapter 258 | Table of Contents | Chapter 260>>

Chapter 258 - What Was

Before we left to follow in the wake of the madman who was essentially kidnapping us, we took the time to gather up the Monster Cores littering the now quieted battlefield. The amount of wealth that was being revealed by the dissipating Miasma was just too much to let go to waste. Even beyond the crafting benefits of the Cores themselves, if we hawked this many Oni Cores on the market back in Hinaga, we would be making a literal fortune.

Shacklock didn’t care, so we scooped them all up into a sack held in our travel supplies. Instead, he oddly spent the time standing on the edge of the mountaintop, making what looked to be…silly faces out into the night. I swear to God, he was squishing his face together and sticking out his tongue like he was trying to amuse an infant or something.

None of us asked what he was doing, or if he had a reason for it. I’m…not sure there was one.

Even stranger, once we had finished and the exiled Grand Marshal began to lead us further into the range, he looked over his shoulder briefly. He wasn’t looking at any of us, however. Instead, he focused on a point far off into the distance behind us and pulled down one eyelid and stuck out his tongue, wagging it from side to side.

All of us turned to follow his gaze.

There was nothing there.

……………………………………..

In the dark and the rain, the mountain ridges had become even more treacherous than before. It was to the extent that I’m not sure how much longer any of us could take this. Initially, I had been tempted to take to the skies once more, now that I was at least a little familiar with flying. But that was stupid. I would probably only get fried by a bolt from the black, if I tried to take wing. Although we had been determined to push through the night to reach Mt. Gorenzan in time before an inland sea swallowed the bunker door, we had to give up on that. The rain was only intensifying as we headed inland.

The prospect of safe haven, even if it would be found in the arms of the Order of Solstice’s Flame, was a tempting one.

I was thankful that it didn’t take long for us to reach Shacklock’s destination.

He led us to what seemed to be an outright plateau, here in the central Goryuen range, a flat-topped stony plain that stretched out for miles. Squatting on that rock were the familiar sights of Solstice tents, that we had seen back on the beach. There were dozens and dozens of them, as well as a much larger command tent which the rest of them crowded around. Oddly, for all of the canvas domes that dotted the landscape, there were few soldiers visible. And it wasn’t because of the rain, either.

So many of those tents just looked dark and uninhabited.

After we leaped down onto the plateau from a higher ridgeline, Shacklock casually sauntered up to the watch patrol on duty. All of us followed behind him warily, aware that we had little other choice in the matter. Through the noise of the torrential rain, we arrived just in time to hear the madman’s conversation with his underlings.

“-strom back yet?”

The lead soldier shook his head, his eyes trailing over my group standing behind his leader suspiciously. “No sir. Captain Wernstrom’s company has not reported back from his culling.”

Shacklock shook his head, almost mockingly. “That boy. He’s loosin’ his touch, eh?” He said, nudging another guard in the ribs. Said soldier didn’t even blink from the odd treatment.

Guess he was used to it.

“…as you say, sir.”

“Well, whatever,” The madman shrugged. “I’m headin’ inside. I got me some guests I gotta gab with. Make sure I ain’t bothered.”

The patrol saluted their leader and parted for him to stalk past. I resisted the urge to stiffen my shoulders as we did the same. I could feel the Solstice soldier’s eyes boring into my back as I walked past them.

Hell, as we followed Shacklock through the encampment, that feeling only grew. While it was sparsely populated out here, it didn’t mean there was nobody. We occasionally stumbled across cook fires, strangely resilient to the deluge being tended to by a handful of classers. Their leader would receive acknowledging nods, but the rest of us only got glares and glowers.

When we reached the larger command tent, Shacklock barged right through the flapping entrance like he owned the place-

(Which I suppose he did).

-and immediately started shouting.

“Clear out, all of ya!” He bellowed into the warm, well-lit confines of the tent. The heads of a dozen or so officers crowded around the incongruously large central table immediately snapped up at the shout. There was a large spread of steaming hot food around the table, the sight of which made my stomach grumble. More than one set of eyes blinked at their leader. He glowered back at them. “You heard me! Git! Go! This is my tent, gods damnit, and I’m tellin’ ya to scram!”

The officers scrambled to their feet and did as he bid, slipping around us to exit out into the rain and the dark. As they passed us, I couldn’t help but notice that the Lieutenant who had greeted us to these shores was among them. I exchanged a friendly nod with Lieutenant Salzen as he passed me.

And then we were alone with the madman, in his own territory.

Said madman stalked his way over to a large wooden chair, carved almost to look like a throne. The back of it resembled the massive sword that had strangely disappeared after Shacklock had dispatched an entire horde of Oni. He hopped into it and leaned back, propping his feet up onto the table in front of him with a thud. “Ah…” He sighed. “Ain’t no place like home. Well? What are you lot waitin’ for? Sit your asses down!”

At his barked command, we warily stepped away from the entrance and approached the table. There, we found seats around it and slumped into them. My back thanked me as I settled into the oddly decadent chair, with its plush seat.

Never one to pass up an opportunity, Azarus immediately reached for the untouched food on the table. When Shacklock didn’t protest, the rest of us joined him. After all, it had been a while since any of us had an actual prepared meal. Camp fare just wasn’t the same thing.

As I tucked into a place of roasted fowl and brown bread, the space between my shoulders itched. Shacklock was just watching us, saying nothing.

Suddenly, he spoke up as I was cleaning a bone. “Do ya like my table?”

The sound of eating slowed, as all of us blinked in confusion from the odd question. Liora was the one to break the silence. “Ah…yes, the food is-”

She was interrupted by the old man waving a hand dismissively. “Ain’t talkin’ about the grub. I meant the table itself.”

I looked down at the flat top of the thick wooden table then, aware of everyone else’s head doing the same around me. But not, strangely, Venix. The Antium had never taken his eyes off of Shacklock, in the entire time we’d been in his presence. I couldn’t help but notice that his lower two arms were below the table, as his upper two tended to his plate.

“Ah…it’s okay, I guess?” Renauld said uncertainly. “It’s very…tabley.”

Suddenly, Shacklock lunged forward in his chair to slam his open palms down on the table. The resulting sound was loud enough that I’m sure the entire camp heard it. “Okay?! Tabley?!” He spit furiously. “This is a godsdamned masterwork of carpentry and spatial enchanting! I spent a carkin’ decade makin’ this thing! You have any idea how hard it was to make a folding table this large that shrinks down to the size of a flippin’ matchbook?! It ain’t easy!”

I blinked slowly at the tirade, before inspecting the apparently enchanted table more closely. This time, with my Aetherial sense.

Ah…yeah. I…suppose that was an enchantment. I wasn’t too familiar with spatial enchanting, although I’d seen it before. There were thick braids of potent Ki flowing through dense nets of impossibly tiny runes, all through the apparent ‘masterwork table’.

But for all of the work that must have gone into the table, it was still very plain, aesthetically.

It just looked like a damn table.

What…was the point of all this?

…was there a point?

At the very least, I…suppose that explained how they had this huge hunk of wood sitting in the middle of a mobile camp.

Under everyone’s combined baffled stare, Shacklock’s aged features screwed up in disgust. “Bah. My genius is wasted on you infants.”

Alright, enough of this.

I leaned forward, drawing Shacklock’s attention. “Why are we here? What was so important that you basically kidnapped us?”

The madman’s eyes slid my way, and he considered me for a moment. “Greycton’s newest little toy,” He mused, ignoring my question. “Well, aside from his tin men and women. I was wonderin’ what you lot were here for, but I think I’ve figured it out. I saw somethin’ mighty interestin’, watchin’ your fight with the horners. Those flames I saw ya use…I read a book that talked about ‘em, once, years and years and years ago.”

My lips twitched downwards, and yet I was unsurprised. Sometimes it felt like I was never able to hold onto the ‘secret’ of my origins for long. It was to the point that it barely felt like one at all, and was instead just something I didn’t go around advertising. “Say what you mean, Shacklock,” I said bluntly.

A brief red spark flared in the old monster’s eyes for a moment, before fading. “You’re after the door, ain’tcha, Precursor?”

I saw Kazuma start out of the corner of my eye and turn to stare at me, but he was the only one who reacted to the words. I suppose it wasn’t too surprising that an educated nobleman like Kazuma would know what that was.

“Y’see, I heard a story from a little birdy,” Shacklock started casually. “It were about an old curiosity of Greycton’s back in his even older stompin’ grounds. Out in Hollow Hill, there was this door That Fucker was obsessed with for years on years. Only, he weren’t ever able to get it open. He huffed and he puffed and he slung spells at it that would topple castles. But it never budged. That was until his newest pet laid a hand on it some six months past. And then it opened right up. Me oh my, now that’s interestin’.”

Venix shifted in his chair, and I saw the muscles in his lower biceps tense. I had a good idea about what he was gripping, under the table. Shacklock did too, but judging by the mocking tilt to his lips, he didn’t seem to care a whit.

“I was busy at the time, but I still wondered. What had that feculent sack of shit dug up out in the Principality, which did what he could not? I know now, and I’m thinkin’ you’re here for the same thing. The big shiny door that my scouts have told me stands right out on the mountainside.”

I scowled now, and not just because an outright madman had figured out our goal. While I had grown some doubts about Grey during my time away from him, I still cared for the man. I didn’t appreciate hearing my mentor talked about in that way. “What business is it of yours?” I asked sharply.

That was a mistake.

The red glow returned to Shacklock’s beady black eyes, and a terrifying sensation stole over me.

Or rather, my outer ring.

From one instant to the next, my sanity died. That…that was the only way I could really describe it. It was like all reason left the outermost ring of that defined who I was. The world ceased to make sense, simple concepts like light, and direction, and temperature became meaningless. What passed for thoughts in the shell my outer ring had become did not proceed naturally, from one to the next in a familiar, linear, sane manner.

And it drove that mind mad.

It wanted to rage at the world that had suddenly become so terrifying, where nothing made sense to it. It wanted to take the plate it had suddenly been eating and simultaneously smash it against the face of Bella to my right, and also eat it, and also carve graven images into our flesh with those shards and on and on and on with everything around us.

It was only thanks to the rock-solid, protected nature of my core ring I didn’t descend fully into that madness. My companions and friends, I think, weren’t quite so protected. They all started to stand or growl or worse…

Until the sensation vanished.

Shacklock had only pulsed that effect for an instant, and that instant had nearly been enough to destroy all of us.

I was beyond shaken by the experience and judging by the looks on my companion's faces, they were too. Because I recognized that for what it was. The expression of it was different from anything I had seen to this point, but I recognized the base sensation.

That had been Shacklock’s Mantle.

Simply by unfurling it, he could drive anyone he wanted mad.

Insane.

Helpless to the world.

I drew in a shaking breath.

So.

That was why they called him the Madman. Not because of his erratic behavior.

Because of what he could do to others. That…that must have been how he had drawn all of the Oni to him earlier.

Said madman leaned forward. “Ye ask what business it is of mine, striplin’?” He hissed. “Everythin’ Greycton does is my business. Outsider, you were not born in this land, and so ya don’t know. But my life, every last second of every last hour of every last day of every last month of every last year of every last decade of every last CENTURY!” He bellowed, standing up from his chair. “Has been about that man! I founded this gods forsaken Order to oppose that him, when he made his own! I sought strength and years so I could live long enough to piss on all he’s wrought, when he did the same! I didn’t give a rat’s fucking arse about King and country, in that stupid damned war or any other! All I cared about was that he was on one side, so I had to be on the other! All for the chance, the CHANCE!” He said, holding two fingers together closely. “That I might get to murder him! Oh…oh how I longed for that. Ya can’t even begin to understand how much I do, you uppity little maggot.”

That…that was…

“Insane,” I whispered, staring at Shacklock. “That’s insane. What could possibly drive anyone to that level of vendetta? For literal centuries?”

Shacklock smiled mockingly at me. “What, ya ask? Why, it’s simple.”

“He were my brother.”

<<Chapter 257 | Table of Contents | Chapter 259>>

Chapter 257 - Bladeborne Insistence

The sight was so startling that all I could do was stare out at the person.

Well, I assumed it was a person. It was hard to see the figure through the fading light and the dark of the storm. But whoever they were, it didn’t look like they were flying with wings as I was.

Instead, I thought it was…

Well, I think they were standing on a sword?

A giant one, at that. It was difficult to even call the thing a sword. It was more like a massive slab of iron in the vague shape of one than a real blade. The ridiculous thing was so large that it was almost akin to the oar of a ship, and not a small ship at that. I had no doubt the beast of a blade could act as a replacement oar in a pinch, from how ridiculously wide it was.

It hung motionlessly in midair, a short humanoid form standing on top of it with its arms crossed. It was hard to make out exact features in the darkness, but I thought I could see a long coat flapping in the wind, hanging from thin shoulders. Incongruously, I think I could see a…hat, planted firmly on the person's head.

A…cowboy hat.

My lips parted in disbelief because I had only seen one person on this planet wearing a hat like that.

And they were looking right at me. The figure had noticed me long before I had seen them and had been watching me the whole time. Across their distance, I thought I might be able to see wild amusement in their eyes. Even though I was transformed into my current monstrous shape, I knew the owner could recognize me for who I was. Somehow, someway, even without the telltale tingle of Observe, this person knew me for who I was.

But the eyes themselves weren’t what I was expecting. I knew this person to have small, black, evil little eyes that saw the world as nothing more than set dressing for their entertainment. That still existed, of course.

I didn’t expect the blood-red glow that now suffused them. They pulsed brightly through the darkness, illuminating a wrinkled old face enough that I saw thin lips…

Curve into a mocking smile.

Before the owner fell out of sight.

Startled, I watched as Grand Marshall Shacklock of the Order of Solstice’s Flame stopped hovering to fall towards the battlefield before. As he did, he reached to his side and caught the enormous greatsword falling with him by the handle effortlessly. At the contact, the entire blade of the sword began to glow a strange, sickly orange in color, roiling up and down the length of it.

With what happened next, I was extremely glad that my friends and companions were still skirting the outside of the battlefield. Because when Shacklock touched down, blade first, in the center of the mountain-top, a strange, static field of power exploded from the point of impact, rapidly expanding to wash over every single Oni still standing. From the twiggiest adolescent to the elders with the grandest horns on that field…

They all went mad.

Feral.

Insane with rage.

All Oni on that field immediately abandoned anything they were doing. They ceased fighting with themselves and they ceased fighting with my companions. Nothing else mattered to them from that point on but the man who had seemingly cast a spell over them.

Shacklock.

They swarmed in his direction, frothing at the mouth with rage-blind eyes, and fell to him in droves. I nearly wasn’t able to see the old monster, even from my high vantage point, with how surrounded he was by beast and Miasma both. The only thing I was initially able to see was Oni falling to pieces by the dozen, all around a central point. That massive blade sliced out, again and again, slaying Oni so quickly that it made my previous efforts with my sword-staff seem sluggish in comparison.

In only moments, the man who was supposedly nearly on the level with Grey had cut down nearly every single Oni that had been on the field. Where only moments before had been well over a hundred, even after all the killing that had occurred before Shacklock’s arrival…

Now there was only one, driven to its knees, with a single hand grasping it by the horns and holding it in place as it thrashed about uselessly.

Except that hand was different. It was far, far larger, and far, far more muscled than the palm that had belonged to a fragile, stooped old man only moments ago. Oni were massive in comparison to most people, but whoever this was nearly matched the monsters in sheer size.

As the Miasma cleared from around the owner, I was able to see why. I…suppose Shacklock had a transformation Skill of his own.

Because he was a changed man.

The Grand Marshall of the Solstice’s Flame had gained at least ten feet in height in the moments since I’d last seen him. Compounded on that, his stick-thin frame had filled out as well. It was monstrously muscled, now, appearing as if the physique of a life-time body-builder, stretched taut for competition. Muscles were packed upon muscles in an almost grotesque exaggeration of the human form, flexing minutely in the rain that fell ceaselessly. Shacklock’s previously baggy clothes were now stretched to the brim trying to contain his herculean form, and where before I’d thought them comical, now I wasn’t laughing.

It didn’t matter how garish they were.

This was an existence I knew could pop my head like a grape with only two fingers. The sword that I’d thought insanely oversized no longer appeared so, in this giant of a man’s grip. Instead, it was nearly normal size, held casually in one hand as the other idly held back a yellow Oni elder.

Beneath a much more pronounced brow, the beady black, glowing red eyes of the Grand Marshall examined the monster dispassionately for a moment before he suddenly spoke. “A bit of a disappointin’ show, ya beastie,” He said idly, in a voice that suddenly echoed in a terrifyingly familiar way. “I was countin’ on you and yours to give this old man one more entertain’ slaughter afore the end. Couldna manage even that, though, eh? Bah. Begone with ya.”

Effortlessly, Shacklock shifted his grip until one massive paw lay to cover the Oni’s face. I winced at the cracking sounds that echoed across the mountaintop as he curled his fingers inwards, crushing and crumpling its face as if it were naught but a sheet of paper. In moments, the last remaining Oni had perished, dissipating out into Miasma to join the rest still lurking on the mountain-top. In it's wake was left only the Miasma that covered the battlefield, pierced only by the glimmering forms of hundreds of Cores.

I took a deep breath, as the Grand Marshall slung his enormous greatsword over an equally massive shoulder.

So.

That was why Shacklock was so feared, and yet well-regarded. Effortless, brutal, crushing might. He’d scythed through more terrifyingly powerful monsters in moments than I think I’d ever seen anyone do.

I felt my skin crawl as his disquieting eyes trailed up to me for a moment before I was visibly dismissed. Instead, he focused his attention on my comrades standing across from him on the battlefield. All of them stood stock-still under his piercing gaze, well-aware that this man could end us as easily as he breathed.

Thankfully, we had something he wanted.

“Is that you, Kazuma my boy?!” Shacklock boomed across the battlefield, a wide smile on his enlarged features. “I thought ya’d carked it out in the jungles! C’mere, you.” He paused for a moment, before continuing almost grudgingly. “I suppose the rest of ya can come too. Including you, ya great big flyin’ rat.”

I…think he was talking to me, there.

Warily, I ceased my flapping to hover back down to the mountaintop, releasing my grip on Vis Maledicta Exactoris as I did touched down. However, I didn’t get the chance to stand alone long before my companions came running up to me. Judging by looks on their faces, I don’t think they had noticed me soaring back up over the edge to hover over the battlefield.

I don’t blame them.

They’d been a bit preoccupied.

In moments, my face was buried in rain-slicked raven-black hair, as the owner wrapped me in a relieved hug. “Thank fuck,” Bella breathed into my chest, before looking up. Her relief was evident in her eyes. “I thought ye were gone, fer a moment.”

A smile crossed my lips and I tried to wrap my own arms around her, only for Bella to pull back with a suddenly furious look on her sharp features. Before I could react, the pirate Captain had reared one fist back and driven it into my stomach as hard as she seemingly could. I hurked and hunched over it as I heard Shacklock cackle in the background.

“Say somethin’ next time, ye dumb bastard!” I heard my lover roar above me. “Don’t just let me think ye were dashed on the rocks!”

Ah…I…guess I should have done that?

“Sorry,” I wheezed out, as I felt two pairs of hands grab my shoulders to steady me. I accepted their help up and found Azarus and Renauld to be the owners, both of them with relief, and amusement, visible on their faces. Liora and Venix were standing off to the side, watching the small drama with either patience or indifference. Still, I received nods of acknowledgment from my more stoic party members.

However, I didn’t see Kazuma anywhere. It was only when I turned around to face the direction I knew Shacklock to be in that I found the Kawamaran samurai. He had bee-lined straight for the disgraced Herztalian hero and appeared to be speaking rapidly to the older man. As I watched them, the madman’s gargantuan form began to…steam, for some reason, and shrink where he stood.

Over Azarus’s head, I frowned pensively as I watched Shacklock’s beady little eyes gleam, locking onto the still-wrapped sword on Kazuma’s back.

Even if the blade, which had been the apparent cornerstone of his plan, had been recovered, it still couldn’t be used. Shurenga had deliberately crafted the new bond between sword and owner so that it needed time to settle into Kazuma’s soul. If the samurai tried to absorb the force of Shacklock’s Core Collapse, the blade would shatter and disperse, wasting his sacrifice and the artifact at the same time. Kazuma knew this. We had confirmed it with him. And judging by the tense set to his shoulders, he was conveying that fact to the Grand Marshall.

So why didn’t Shacklock look upset by that? Instead, he looked up briefly and caught my eye.

Disturbingly, he winked at me.

A chill shot down my spine.

I took a deep breath, and together with my companions, we approached the samurai and the madman. I couldn't help but notice there was a tenseness to the set of my friends shoulders, even if they tried to hide it. All of us were aware that we stood no chance again Shacklock, if this went south.

I was a bit surprised at what actually happened.

A wide smile, with only a touch of insanity found within it, crossed the lips of the Grand Marshal of the Order of Solstice's Flame. "Thanks fer findin' this one!" He growed, slapping one hand hard on the back of Kazuma. The Kawamaran man staggered so hard that he nearly ran right into me, and I had to steady him with my gloved hand. Shacklock pretended like he took no notice. "I heard from the men that ol' Kazuma here got et by an Oni out in the Jungles. Oh me oh my, am I sure relieved see him not a festerin' pile of Oni shit!"

All of us were dead silent as the old monster cackled out into the rain, seemingly deeply amused by his own 'joke'.

He...kept laughing for an almost uncomfortable length of time. I cleared my throat in an attempt to be polite. When that didn't work, I just spoke up. "Ah, it's no iss-"

Shacklock abruptly stopped laughing and snapped his head down to fix his mad gaze on me. I froze at the intensity I saw in that gaze. "So, as thanks, I'm thinkin' you boys and girls should follow me back to our camp, out here in this festerin' pit. Now that you've proved yer worth by reaching the central range, I got somethin' to talk to ya's about."

He leaned forward, and I noticed I wasn't the only one to lean back, almost involuntarily, at the glow that had returned to his small, soulless black eyes.

"I insist."

 <<Chapter 256 | Table of Contents | Chapter 258>>

Chapter 256 - Sudden Drop

This wasn’t as stupid as it might immediately appear.

During one of our breaks on the climb, we discussed just this possibility as a group. We had always known it was a possibility that we could run face-first into a battle such as this. The possibility of immediately turning back and fleeing from it had been raised, but not seriously entertained. After all, not only had most of my companions joined the expedition for the Statusial gains they might accumulate, but there was no point to running. As Venix told us, in violence-on-violence battles, an Oni wasn’t going to target a regular mortal more than they would anyone else.

Anyone and everything was free game out here. We didn’t rank higher on any imagined chart than a fellow Oni, to these battle-mad beasts.

That didn’t mean we weren’t on the menu, however. It just meant we could wade into the melee to achieve our objective without being dogpiled by every single hungry monster on the mountain.

We would fight our way to an advantageous point, and if a chance to advance through the range presented itself, we would take it. To do this, our plan was to skirt our way along the edges of the battlefield, slaying any and all that would oppose us along the way. Once we found a viable exit point that saw us forward, we would defend that point for as long as we possibly could before retreating out along it. This way, we could both advance in strength and make sure we were keeping time towards Gorenzan.

Even if it was likely already flooded.

Things were even going well. All of us, even Kazuma to a degree, were a cut above the rest when it came to classers in our weight class. It was a good thing, too, considering the sheer amount of Oni out here. All of us had our hands full, and needed to engage individual monsters one-on-one, with the exception of Renauld. Kazuma was keeping to his self-imposed duty of protecting the Healer, while said Healer did his best to support us from behind. There was no room, time, or will to be relying on the small unit tactics we’d learned from the Oni Hunters back in Kawamara proper.

There were just too many of them.

Venix was in a class all to himself, hardly appearing as if he had lost any strength at all from his extended coma. In fact, now that I was much stronger than I had been the last time I’d seen him really cut loose, I would say the Antium samurai was beyond fully recovered.

He was stronger than he had been.

Azarus was full on fighting with each of his chain blades extended, using them to hassle any Oni that dared step up to him. I saw each of those spears, as well as his hammer, grow white hot as he channeled some form of Skill to enhance his blows. It certainly had a pronounced effect, considering how his knives were cutting through Oni flesh like a hot knife through bricks of butter.

Liora, on the other hand, was demonstrating abilities I’d never seen from the former assassin. I’d always been aware that she had similar abilities to our now passed commander, Hook. They both tended to favor razor-sharp, cutting winds, him on his old daggers, and her on her claws. But I’d never seen her coat her entire furry body with those blackened winds, until it was hard to see her through the howling sheathe. In a glimpse, I saw her straight-up plow right through one particular Oni, pulping his torso and barreling right towards another.

But it was Bella who surprised me the most. Where all of us were demonstrating all new abilities we’d likely either been workshopping, or had gained through Statusial growth, it was my lover who showed an entirely new fighting style. The pirate Captain had always tended to fight with a form of storm element that buoyed her strength, agility, and more importantly her cutlass. But she’d abandoned that altogether.

Now, she fought like a conductor.

In some bizarre combination of what seemed both Skill and Spell, her cutlass was born aloft by a furious, blackened, electrified cloud. Instead of her holding the blade itself, it seemed to dart all across the battlefield directed by her will, to slash and cut at any Oni she so wished. More importantly, however, the blade of the cutlass itself seemed to have been surrounded with so much dense lightning that it appeared as if a bolt from heaven itself. The result was that the zooming blade left scorching rents in the flesh of all that it touched, charred black by the plasma-sheathed blade of the instrument. Still, for all of her newfound ability to direct her usual blade, she kept a new one ready. There was a dagger I’d never seen her draw before, a long, curved, wicked dagger akin to a serpent's tooth that she kept in a backhanded grip to ward off those that strayed too close. Waving one hand about to direct the blade, Bella winked at my momentarily startled expression, before getting back to work.

All these new abilities…all these new strategems…

They were a stark, albeit relieving reminder, that my friends and companions weren’t the only ones continuously growing in strength. They trained, and they pondered, and they grew just as much as I did, never sitting still, never growing complacent. For every victory that we had, the System doled out more strength, more levels, more new abilities for them to unleash on our foes. I wasn’t the only one to have trump cards hidden up my sleeves for emergencies.

However…

Not to brag, but I think mine was the most effective. As simple as it might seem, a single blade of scintillant fire was absolutely nothing to underestimate.

I don’t think even Venix’s four blades parted Oni flesh as well as my sword-staff did. In the mere minutes of battle we’d engaged in, as we circled the battlefield, I had lost count of the number of Oni I’d cleaved in twain. One stroke of the burning blade was enough to end the life of even an elder Oni who thought to try their luck. It didn’t matter what defenses the more canny Oni tried to raise. The blade sundered through them all, fulfilling the prophecy of the Skill’s description.

It struck the root of all things.

But, there was a problem with using The Scintillant Blade in this way. It had an immediate downside that I’d discovered just after finding out I could do this, those months ago in a private Hinaga practice room.

This was the first instance I had found of a Skill draining Mana to keep active. And the drain was not small. Every second I had the fiery blade active huge chunks of the Mana I’d accumulated from every point I’d invested into Wisdom were being burned to keep it alive. Perhaps the most frustrating thing, though, was that I could just tell that was a problem with how I was using that Mana. It all came back to my problems in channeling the refined Aether. If I was more efficient, if I had an actual channeling method, then I don’t think it would be a problem. But I didn’t.

It was deadly, yes, as evidenced by the dozens of Oni I’d cut down. However…

I just couldn’t keep it going forever. If only because I needed to keep some strength in reserve for after this.

After all, I didn’t know if I was going to be fighting a nascent Calamity later or not.

That was the reason I didn’t dare to try and channel both Vis Maledicta Exactoris and Might of the Wyrdwood as well. Using both of those Skills at the same time placed tremendous physical stress on me. Even if those abilities didn’t tax my Mana to keep active, it would wipe me out for an extended period of time to try and utilize the multiplicative effect of the Skills together with this blade.

Still, it was fine. The purpose of using the enhanced version of my most powerful racial in the first place was so we could establish ourselves on the field of battle. We had successfully navigated to the edge of the mountaintop and located a ridgeline that seemed to stretch further into the range. Now we were just holding our position here until, I believe, we were satisfied with the slaughter.

Reluctantly I stepped back behind my allies briefly, and when I felt my internal reserves of Mana reach the half-way mark, I cut the Skill. Instantly, the coruscating fire wavered and vanished from the topaz core gem. Strangely, the stone steamed in the still-falling rain.

I slung the staff back over my back, and instead drew both of my daggers in their unextended state, activating the less taxing form of The Scintillant Blade upon them as I did so. Stepping past Kazuma and exchanging a curt, acknowledging nod with him, I got back to work, engaging with a blue adolescent.

As I fought, I felt like I was acting on auto-pilot and instinct. I no longer had the ability to fall into what I’d termed as a ‘battle trance’ like I’d discovered back in Elderwyck. I didn’t have the emotional numbing effect that my lost middle ring could grant. But I could almost equate it, these days. It was almost like…I had grown used to battle, and could direct my full attention towards it.

Turns out, that wasn’t a good thing.

I don’t know if it was my focused state, if I just ended up being surprised, or if I just plain got cocky.

But when a green elder wandered into the path I’d carved through the battlefield, I didn’t think of the most evident ability I’d seen from them. Stupidly, I caught its attention with a Poisonthorn Shot, since it seemed like it had caught sight of Kazuma and Renauld itself. I had thought I was doing them a favor by taking the focus away from our Healer, even if he had a guard. After all, I’d killed more than one elder here in this battle, one-on-one, and I was confident in myself.

Instead, I came the closest to death I’d encountered since the close of the Elderwyck campaign.

The green elder wheeled in my direction, dragging its broad hands through the air in a wide arc as it did so, almost as if it was slapping at me.

From those palms issued a fierce, directed wind. A gale strong enough I thought it might have been able to knock down a tree.

Much less a person.

I went flying, soaring over the edge of the mountaintop I’d been fighting on top of, only moments ago.

My transformed eyes widened, and it felt like my heart stopped briefly in my chest. The world seemed to slow around me, as a great abyss yawned underneath my floating form.

In the split second before I descended over the edge, I was able to see the fight on the mountain in a freeze frame. Venix had dashed over to take care of the green elder that had dealt with me so effortlessly, and had, just as effortlessly, rent him limb from limb. A few of my companions seemed to have noticed my plight, and with a desperate expression on his normally stoic face, Azarus had directed his hovering chain spears to dart toward me. Presumably, he meant to catch my falling form with them. Alas, he wasn’t close enough to the edge, and didn’t seem to have the ability to grow enough chain that they would reach me. They stopped just before I could grab hold of them.

The only other person that seemed to have noticed my plight was…

Bella.

My lover stopped cold in the middle of the battlefield to track my soaring form. Her lips parted in horror as I somehow, across the distance, met her stormy blue eyes. I only had moments to look into them.

Hopefully, she could read the message in my own.

Before I fell over the edge.

………………………….

As I plunged down the mountainside, I was strangely calm. After all, if any one of us had to be thrown over the edge like this, I was glad it was me.

I was the only one with wings, after all.

Even as surprised as I was by the gust of wind, I had never lost my grip on Vis Maledicta Exactoris.

Problem was, I had never actually learned how to fly with them. Sure, I’d done some enhanced jumps by flapping my wings down hard, but that was different. There was more to flight, true proper flight, than just mindlessly beating my batlike appendages. Flying was super complicated, and humanoid forms weren’t really meant for it.

Still, I knew it was possible.

I just wish I’d had the chance to learn how to fly in a less perilous situation.

As the world roared around me, I oriented myself in midair until I was facing downward, plunging headfirst towards the raging mountain river I could see far below me, illuminated by flashes of lightning. Maybe it was my imagination, but I thought my falling speed picked up.

Still, I didn’t open my wings. Not just yet.

I probably only had one chance to get this right. If I messed this up, I was going to end up as a red smear on the side of the mountain, before finding a watery grave in a muddy stream bed.

I held my breath as I felt the wind around me rush past, waiting for the right moment.

I must have only been feet away from the stone when I felt it. A shift in the air, as the currents changed around me.

Now!

I snapped my wings open, and the speeding air caught underneath them.

Instantly, I sailed up on them, zooming over the surface of the raging river below so closely I swore my feet skimmed it.

But I wasn’t paying any attention to that. Instead, I was marveling at my own actions. A massive, manic smile stole across my fanged mouth.

I was truly flying now.

Experimentally, I flapped my wings, sending me flying higher into the air. I was momentarily startled by how easy that was. But in retrospect, my core mused, that made sense. Even if I had stolen this Skill from a mostly dead Calamity, it made sense that the System would imbue it with at least a few instincts about how to properly fly.

Relieved, I flapped more and more and more, until I was soaring ever higher. In moments, I had winged my way past the edge of the mountain I had just fallen past, until I had flown to hover far above it. Below me, I could see the whole of the battlefield. The sight of the small war stole the smile from my face.

Because it didn’t seem to be going well, honestly. In the moments since I’d fallen, the board had changed.

It looked to me like another violence had been drawn by the fighting, and fallen upon the remnants with glee. This time, they looked to be browns. My understanding of the Oni species told me they were earth-aligned, which meant I had to get down there now.

My companions were surrounded by earth. The browns might be even deadlier than the greens were, on that stony mountain top.

But something caught my eye before I could swoop down and join the battle. Something in the sky.

It looked…

Well, it almost looked like there was someone hovering up here other than me.

<<Chapter 255 | Table of Contents | Chapter 257>>

Chapter 255 - Treacherous Trek

I wanted to grit my teeth in frustration at Kazuma’s ultimatum. Thankfully, I had better control over myself to let a tell like that through, if only thanks to Acting. Honestly though…

I’d been expecting something like this from the man for a while. I think we had all been expecting it. He had never hidden his intentions from us. In the end, I couldn’t fault him for being patient and waiting for the right opportunity.

Even if it was a pain in my ass.

As rain fell from the shrouded heavens all around us, I met his eyes calmly. “We’ll see. After all, there’s still a chance we’ll get to the mountain in time.”

Behind Kazuma’s back, I saw Azarus make a doubtful face. He didn’t get a chance to speak, though. Not before Venix abruptly stood up from our little huddle, pushing my cloak aside as he did.

“Enough,” He announced. “We cannot linger here. Every moment we waste speaking is another that the Wyrm grows in strength. A decision on our course can wait until we reach the spire of Gorenzan.”

We all stood to join him, and I dismissed Kazuma’s ‘proposal’ for later consideration. Venix was right.

We had to keep moving.

Together, we scanned the ridgeline, and when we found a stable enough path that didn’t seem to be infested with Oni, we set off on it.

Well.

It wasn’t currently filled with the giants.

I didn’t expect it to remain that way for long.

…………………………………..

It was unexpectedly exhausting working, hiking through these mountains. Our impromptu paths along the ridgelines were narrow at the best of times, and hair-thin at the worst. Occasionally, we would encounter larger, flat-topped areas that seemed to be acting as arenas for the feuding Oni. These battlegrounds, whenever we came upon them, all seemed to have seen fighting recently. The scent of Miasma hung heavy in the air on those flat-tops, and cracks and craters pockmarked the surface from blows that had been thrown and flung. However, we had yet to run into any of those combatants on our march. From what Venix told me on our scant few breaks, the fighting in these feuds started on the outskirts and moved inwards, like the closing of a circle. It acted as an almost…tournament, for the Oni. Stronger and more worthy monsters clashed with each other constantly, seeking ever mightier opponents in their path toward the Wyrm.

We were moving just behind the battle lines of the impromptu war.

I didn’t have time or attention to worry about that, though. The footing along the ridges was already treacherous enough, from the way any possible stone was likely to slip out from underneath you at any moment. But it was only made trickier by the rain that fell constantly, never once letting up over the next few hours of careful travel.

Frankly, I think a climb like this would have been impossible for anyone who wasn’t an Awakened. Even the lowest level person with a Status had a certain degree of enhanced physical acuity that was necessary. I think Renauld was the least physically able person in our party, and despite that, he was able to react in time to save himself from many potential falls. The rest of us did the same, carefully balancing our way along the precarious parapets of this rocky cascade. At times, the path along the ridges was so narrow that we had to hold out our arms to act as ballast, if only to maintain our equilibrium. It was almost equivalent to games I would play as a child, carefully skipping through squares etched on the sidewalk in chalk, laughing and playing with long-gone and distant friends.

There was no laughter to be found here, though. Only focused determination, tense physical control, and a silence broken only by the occasional rest on battle-scarred mountain planes.

It was there on one of those battlefields after several hours of careful traversal, that Azarus edged up to me. I looked at him from the corner of my eye as I replaced the cap on my travel canteen. I’d been letting the rain refill it when he sidled my way.

He…had some bad news for me.

“I think it’s already too late,” My dwarven friend murmured to me, barely audible over the rain and thunder.

I took a deep breath at that, my eyes flickering over the rest of my companions. From the way Liora’s ears twitched, and Venix’s head turned, I think their Perception might be high enough that they heard him, despite the distance. Bella, Renauld, and Kazuma seemed oblivious, however, from how they didn’t react.

I sighed that breath out. “You sure?”

Azarus nodded, his long crimson hair, drenched from the rain, swaying with the movement. “Yeah, pretty sure. I’ve been keepin’ an eye on the rivers below,” He said, nodding to one of said mountain rivers raging off into the distance. To my layman’s eye, it almost looked more furious than the ones we’d seen hours and miles previous. “I don’t think the elevation markers on that map were accurate. I’m thinkin’ this range is steeper than it said. Whoever made that map was a dumb sack of shit that wouldn’t know proper geographical notatin’ if it reared up and bit ‘em in the ass.”

“And what does that mean for us?” I asked him quietly, eyes on the horizon. I think I could see another Oni battle happening a few miles away from us, but the sight of them had ceased to surprise me.

“Means they shoulda hired a proper dwarven map-maker fer these mountains, that’s what it means,” Azarus said grumpily. At my look, he held up his hands and sighed. “Rivers are flowin’ faster, which means more water toward the inner bowl, which means we’re shit out of luck Nate. Only way we’re gettin’ in that bunker is with help, with the dragon dead, or by waitin’ for all this shit to blow over and drain away.”

My eyes flickered over to Kazuma where he was watching over Renauld, and frowned slightly. “How long do you think it will take, for the inland sea to drain?”

The former Savoy tilted one broad hand back and forth. “Hard ta say. But, I’m guessin’ about two months or so? Shit, Nate. I ain’t exactly a trained prospector. I just picked up a thing or two livin’ in the mountain holds.”

I frowned, and after a moment, just shook my head. “Doesn’t matter, I suppose. We’ll take things one at a time.”

At that, the conversation died. Our break was over, judging by the way Venix had nearly started pacing.

We packed back up, and got underway.

…………………………….

Our luck had to run out eventually. We were pushing hard despite the precariousness of the climb, and the consequence of that haste was incaution. With the pace we were setting, it was only a matter of time before we pushed straight into the advancing battle-lines of the Oni conflict.

I just…didn’t expect for our luck to tank as hard as it did.

With our sight obscured by both the fading light of the shrouded sun, and the increasing thickness of the storm, we didn’t see them until it was too late.

We edged our way straight into a full-on war.

Here, on this mountain top much larger than any we had yet to set foot on, more than simply two different violences had found each other.

It looked like there were four of them out here. The result was that there must have been hundreds of different Oni infesting this mountaintop. Easily the largest grouping of not only Oni I had ever seen, but the largest collection of monsters, in general, I had seen, since the Break Stones had been set off back on the mainland. The cacophony of their chaotic battle was loud enough to drown out the storm that raged on above us. Roars and cries crashed alongside the flash of thunder and lightning, both artificial and the product of Vereden itself. Mud and Miasma were thick on the ground from the stamping of feet and the sundering of the defeated, forming a treacherously unstable footing, obscured from sight by a thick black mist.

From what I could see through the chaos of battle, there were reds, blues, yellows, and a type I had yet to encounter yet here on this field.

Greens.

This type of Oni specialized in wind element, if not in a different manner than I’d seen it used before. I was only able to catch a single glimpse of a green conjuring gales that swept opponents off the mountain face, before that Oni was crushed by a furious, burning comet of a red elder that crashed down upon them with a roar. Similar scenes abound all across the field of war, in the brief moment of shock we were allowed.

A blue, goring a yellow upon his horns, Miasma pouring forth from the wounds to coat the victor in a cloak of murk.

A yellow, slamming his open palms upon the head of a red, a shockwave emanating from the point of impact that shattered the skull of the defeated.

A monstrously huge green elder, sweeping his hands in wide, dramatic gestures. Each swipe generated winds stronger than the storm that raged overhead, sending opponents flying from the mountaintop to fall, screaming, in the flooded, raging gutters and valleys below.

And then we were noticed.

A pair of yellow juveniles, so similar in appearance to the one we had ambushed out on the stony plains, bounded out of the thick of battle in our direction. The gait of the juves almost reminded me of nature documentaries I had seen in my youth, of gorillas charging down challengers to their thrones.

I was at the front of our party, and I’m not sure my friends and companions had even noticed the danger that was bearing down on us. We had only just set foot on the battlefield, and now we were being charged. With the way the ridge sloped down behind us, each of them in a single file behind me, they might not be able to react in time to the approaching danger.

That didn’t matter, though.

Knuckles down, churning the mud and Miasma, blood-shot eyes trained upon us with murder apparent in taut muscle of their thick frames…

We were forcibly inducted into the Oni rite of supremacy.

I grit my teeth and drew something that I believe would have confused my old self. I didn’t draw my bow, to pick off the chargers. I didn’t draw Terractus, the side-arm I had so painstakingly forged, half as a status symbol among the Kawamarans, half in desire to emulate my mentor. I didn’t draw my unnamed extendable daggers, which had so loyally seen me through so many conflicts I couldn’t put a number to.

No.

Instead, I drew the staff I had been left by a Lich I had known for such a short time. And through it, I channeled the Skill that had become the cornerstone of my fighting style.

The Scintillant Blade.

A spark, deep in the core of the topaz crystal, nestled within a basket of pitch black, ebony wood. That spark grew into an inferno that rushed forth from the stone in a billow of rainbow flame. In only an instant, however, it suddenly sharpened. The fire of my racial ability hardened, shaping itself into a facsimile of the form that I had used to slay the soul of a Calamity.

A long, thin, razor-sharp blade, the definition of its form giving no doubt as to its purpose.

Death.

You see, I had made a discovery, in these months since that dramatic confrontation within the Concord. At the time, I had been incredibly shocked at how The Scintillant Blade had manifested in that realm of spirits. The Skill was only supposed to work upon the edge of a blade, from prior testing. But there, it had blazed first into a beacon not unlike that of a lighthouse, and then into the form of a gargantuan blade, so large I hadn’t even needed to swing it to slay Rhazal. The first time, I had eventually chocked that up to shenanigans on behalf of the Great Spirits. Somehow, someway, I think I had been prepped to act as the key to a lock that denied them Rhazals space in that realm. I don’t know when, or how, or even if I cared. In any way, they had saved both me and Vereden as a whole. Tarus had even hinted that before he left the Concord, accusing Elys of meddling. But it didn’t matter.

What did, was what else I’d discovered.

I could replicate the formation of that sword. Not to that extent. Not by far. I think the incredible power and size of that blade had been from the equalized strength I’d been granted from the Rite of Combat. What I could create was instead a long, thin blade of the fire from The Scintillant Blade, half-crystalized into a form that it would accept. It sprouted from the Aetherically charged crystal of the staff, attached to it as if the stone was a crossguard that cradled the blade. The result was what I could only call a sword-staff of sorts.

And it was powerful.

I stepped forward, calling upon the strength of Vis Maledicta Exactoris as I did.

I swung, just as both juveniles reached us, leaping forward with outstretched palms to rend us limb from limb.

Both juveniles died, falling always into pieces, sundered at the trunk.

As the startled juves fell into pieces around me, I gripped my blade-staff with two, scaled, chiropteran hands, and called to my party. “To arms!” I shouted, as they joined me on the mountaintop. As blades and Skills and Spells and Arts were readied at my back, I flared my wings wide.

And charged into the fray, my companions a half-step behind me.

<<Chapter 254 | Table of Contents | Chapter 256>>

Chapter 254 - Rain-Slick Range

My… episode marred our departure from Mt. Umetsuji, and it was far more abrupt than I think any of us had been planning. Shurenga, Sena, and Gin came to see us off, as well as the horde of cubs that had been dogging (catting?) our heels. I was incredibly thankful that my actions hadn’t frightened them off permanently, and I at least managed to get a few pets in for the road.

I was really missing Fade right about now. Maybe his presence alone would have been able to protect me from the Mad God.

“Be swift, warriors,” Shurenga murmured to us, as the gathered stood at the mouth of the mountain once more. “Father tells me that the whole of the central range has become shrouded in a great storm overnight. The madness might have touched upon the Immortal Wyrm and stirred him from his quietude. If you wish to reach Mt. Gorenzan safely, I recommend haste. Who knows how the Oni have been affected?”

I grimaced at that and exchanged a few glances with my companions. Bella had been sticking to me like glue since the scene in the guest rooms and was the first to meet my eyes. Her stormy blue mirrored the wariness that I knew had to be in my own emerald.

Venix, however, sighed out something customary of him.

“Veins of thunder speak,

Mountain’s breath thickens with dusk-

Worn feet press onward.”

He bowed slightly to the Mystic Beast. “We will go as quickly as we can, Lady Shurenga. The time for caution…has passed.”

“It has,” The queen of the saber-tooth cat said quietly, nodding. “Good luck to you and yours, all of you. Dark clouds gather on the horizon.”

Figuratively and literally.

With the final farewells said, we oriented and set off towards the center of the island. On said horizon, I could see the storm that had gathered. It almost looked like a centralized hurricane, swirling endlessly above a single, distant point. It was too far, and too obscured to tell what it was, but I knew what it had to be.

Gorenzan.

No longer hiking, we sprinted in that direction.

……………………………….

Our haste meant that we were no longer being careful about disturbing the hiding residents of this stony plain. On our sprint towards the central range, we ranged into three more random encounters with Oni. Two of them were wandering out on the plain, heading in the same direction that we were. The first Oni, a small, yellow adolescent, died before it could even react. None of us were holding back in the slightest, now.

Surprisingly, Kazuma got the kill for that one. With the Shōmetsu no Kiba still wrapped on his back, the samurai used his regular blade to decapitate it. We barely stopped long enough to grab the monster’s core from the resulting cloud of foul smoke.

The second burst forth from another ravine, in much the same manner as the first Oni we had run into. It held a large, withered jungle tree in its grip, and tried to crush us with the wooden mass. But it was too slow.

Using a somewhat familiar Skill, Venix launched a double-layered, crimson X of pure Ki at the leaping crimson adult. The result was that eight pieces of very deceased Oni rained down upon the group.

Not even the last Oni we ran into was able to stop us for long. This was another wanderer making his way towards the central range, and this time it wasn’t a juvenile. It was a much more attentive elder, like the first we had run into. This one was a red, which meant it was aligned more with fire than it was with the storm. At the same time we saw it on the horizon, it saw us. We weren’t exactly trying to hide the cracking sounds of our footsteps across the plain, and so it spun around and bounded our way, bellowing.

It was a bit of a tougher fight, with the way it was throwing around fireballs larger than I was. But in the end, the squad-based Oni Hunter tactics we had all learned made the fight manageable. After hamstringing this one, I was the person who tore out its throat, this time after getting close to it with Terractus in my transformed state.

Once we’d regrouped and resumed our sprinting, I took the time to check my Status with my core ring. All told, I’d managed to gain another two levels from all the Oni we’d slaughtered out here. That brought me up to level one hundred and thirty-five. Five more levels and I’d get another Skill or Talent from the System, with the way those were coming these days.

Hopefully, I hoped it would be good because I had no doubt that milestone was coming soon.

The next day, when we reached the outer stretch of the Goryuen mountains, we found the chaos we’d been expecting.

It was a madhouse in here.

………………………………

I’d put my cloak back on, and for good reason.

I was getting soaked from the torrential rains that were falling on the entire group. Thankfully, it wasn’t coming down so hard that I couldn’t see out into the storm from the watchpoint we’d reached. Our company had only entered into the central range this morning, after running through the night. Once here, we’d discussed matters and decided that we needed to get a better look at what awaited us, now that we’d reached our destination. The nearest peak wasn’t much more than a mildly impressive hill, and after a hike that was only difficult in the slightest due to the rain, we’d all crouched there to get a bead on the situation.

It…really wasn’t looking too good out here.

The rain was coming down hard enough that the previously bone-dry valleys between the mountains had become raging, fast-moving rivers. The entirety of the range floor was now a labyrinthine net of flowing, debris-filled death. These were no gentle streams we could easily fjord. If we tried, we’d likely get run through with any one of the branches tumbling through the grey waters, or crushed by boulders the size of cars. To make matters worse, the width of these channels wasn’t anything to sneeze at, either. Any one of them was far, far too wide to risk trying to jump across, even with our status-enhanced strength and especially with how slick the stone was. Some of us might be able to make it, true. Hell, even though I still didn’t know how to use the wings that came with my transformation for actual flight, I had figured out how to use them for enhanced leaps. But not all of us would make it, and we didn’t dare split the group.

Because the Oni had gone mad.

I’d been told before that the Oni ventured to Goryuen in order to fight each other to the death for supremacy, under the watchful and eager eyes of Tatsugan. Supposedly, that only happened when he was nearing his apex, so he could gorge himself on their strength and fully ascend to Calamity.

That…might be happening now.

In the scant few minutes we’d been up here, we had watched as what could only be two rival violence’s clashed on a nearly flat-topped peak. Each group of Oni had been comprised of what seemed to be more than ten of the monsters, each led by absolutely massive elders. One seemed to be a group of yellow Oni, and the other blue. In other words, thunder aligned versus lightning aligned.

The resulting war between the two groups was loud and bright enough to drown out the natural equivalents that raged in the heavens above. Through the rain, we watched as the yellow elder ripped the head off of the defeated blue elder, and crunched into the resulting Core as if it were a grape. The victor grew another foot in height and sprouted another pair of horns from his head.

Disturbingly, despite being more than a mile away from the conflict, and doing our best to keep a low profile, the elder saw us. Before he and the remaining members of his violence departed their battleground, he turned to face our direction. Even across the distance, I could see the surprisingly calculating intelligence in those malicious, blood-red eyes. But thankfully, after a moment of too-human consideration, the elder snorted and turned away from us.

I let out a tense sigh as the elder and his band vanished over a nearby ridge. Next to me, Renauld did the same, except his was far more shuddering than mine was. He nudged me weakly. “Close one, eh?”

“We were not worth the risk and effort for him,” Venix said lowly, to my right. “Make no mistake, he longed for our death. But the surer path to power lies in the hunting of his fellows, and the devourment of their Cores. It is the problem with the Oni elders, as they grow in strength. They become far too cunning.”

Azarus grunted, but seemed preoccupied with something. His eyes were locked on a far distant peak just barely visible through the rains to tower over the lesser mountains. I saw him nudge the wet clumps of his long crimson hair from out of his eyes irritably, and turn them to look at the raging rivers below us. He didn’t speak, though, not before Liora did.

“We will not be able to fjord those valleys, and so we must take to the ridges,” She said, just barely loud enough to be heard over the rain.

Renauld cast a glance askance at her. “What, with those things fighting all up and down them? I’m pretty sure there’s another fight going on over thattaway.” He waved his hand in the direction of another mountain, far off into the distance to our left. I squinted, and I thought I could see some distant figures fighting in the raid, but I couldn’t be sure.

Wait, yup.

That was a big old flash of fire all right. It didn’t last long, consider the rain, but it had flared up. In that flash, it briefly illminated dozens of massive figures, smashing into each other. No doubt there was another full violence on violence battle taking place in that direction. A shame, too, considering there was a nice, clear, flat ridgeline skirting out in that direction we could have used.

It would be folly to go that way, though.

Venix shook his head. “We skirt the edges of the struggles and do our best to stay out of sight, and we might just avoid attention. It is our best option.”

“Not sure we can take the risk of movin’ slow,” Azarus spoke, drawing everyone’s attention. His, though, was fixed on Venix. “This whole range, how’s it shaped?”

Venix furrowed his chitinous brow. “What do you mean?”

Azarus made an irritated noise. “I mean, what’s the damn topography? Nate, let me see that map the nob gave you.”

I’d honestly forgotten about that thing, but it was probably the time to dig it out. It was supposed to show us where the bunker was here in the central mountains. I’d never had to use it until now, because it only showed the central range and not the stony plains or the outer jungles.

Thankfully, it was waterproofed with wax, so it wasn’t ruined as I dug it out and handed it to my best friend. We all crowded around the dwarf as he rolled it on top of a flat rock. Helpfully, Liora held up a hand and ignited a light Skill to help us see better through the rain. I even used the long, tailing end of my cloak to shield our huddle.

Azarus studied the map for a moment, occasionally looking up from it to study the horizon before looking back down. He sighed. “Yup, we’re gonna hafta get a move on, or we’re boned. And it’s not ‘cause of the Oni, either.”

I matched his sigh. “What now?”

Azarus pointed one thickly muscled finger out to the distant, barely visible peak on the horizon. “I’m guessin’ that’s Mt. Gorenzan, and the map confirmed it. If that’s where we’re goin’, then if we lag too much, the entire area is gonna be underwater before long. That includes our bunker. See, this entire range,” He swept that finger out in a broad gesture at the surrounding mountains. “Is a bit oddly shaped. Kind of like…a bowl, with another, deeper bowl in the center, yeah? Gorenzan itself is at the bottom of those two bowls, and the lower one is separated by a high ridge line. Now, all the rain from the outer bowl is flowin’ towards the center, but can’t reach it because of the ridge. It’s been rainin’ for a while, so there’s already a bit of a lake in the inner bowl I’m guessin’. Thankfully, the map is tellin’ me that the door isn’t at the base Gorenzan like we thought. It’s a bit up the mountain. But if we dally too long, the dam holding back the outer bowl back will break…”

Bella frowned sharply. “Then the whole damn area is gonna flood and become an inland sea, swallowin’ up the door.”

The bottom dropped out of my stomach at that announcement. There was no way we could search the bunker if that happened.

Renauld didn’t seem to understand the issue, judging from the confused look on his furry, drenched face. “Why? I mean, it would suck to swim down to it, but it’s not it’s impossible. It might even be better. And an inland sea could be calmer than the rivers, at least, so we might be able to dive in. That way we wouldn’t have to climb up to the door, just swim over to the approximate spot and then downwards.”

“Calmer?” Bella muttered to herself. “Maybe, but I dunno about that.”

I slowly shook my head. “That’s not even the real problem,” I said, for the people who hadn’t been inside the bunker yet. “If we open the door to the bunker when it’s submerged, who knows how much water is going to rush inside? It’ll ruin everything inside. The doors are pretty big, and the bunkers stretch deep down, in a kind of spiral. That water will flow to the deepest point, which is where I’m guessing what I’m looking for is. It’ll destroy the console. No matter how quickly we close the door, enough water will get inside to screw things up.”

“Could be that this bunker is different than the last,” Azarus pointed out, a note of doubt in his voice. It didn't sound like he believed his own words.

I frowned at him and shook my head. “I’m not willing to take the risk.”

Liora frowned at me in confusion and interrupted us. “Console?”

“The information storage device…thing.”

I didn't have it in me to try and describe computers right now.

“So should we wait until it stops raining?” Renauld asked, eyes darting between each speaker.

Venix broke his silence. “It will not stop raining until Tatsugan is slain. Damnation, I did not consider that. If the bunker is submerged, we will have no choice but to join the Solstice’s Flame in their quest to slay the Wyrm.”

I had forgotten Kazuma in my irritation, but the samurai had been watching the discussion quietly from the sidelines. “So. You seek some form of…‘bunker’ at the Throne of the Wyrm.” He mused. I noticed his eyes had gained a calculating gleam.

I cursed to myself, but didn’t let it show on my face. Thank God for Acting.

“I have an offer for your company,” He announced with a triumphant smile on his face. “I possess a water affinity and have studied the Art of Sealing. With concentration, I can project a barrier over the entrance of your bunker and prevent the water from rushing in until whatever door you seek is closed.”

My eyes narrowed at man. “And what do you ask in return, Kazuma Higanashi?”

His smile widened, baring straight white teeth in victory.

“You must assist in slaying the Wyrm, of course.”

<<Chapter 253 | Table of Contents | Chapter 255>>

Chapter 253 - Dreams of Madness

Sleep came hard that night, wrapped in my sleeping bag in the guest rooms of Mt. Umetsuji. All of us had agreed to spend the night here in the volcano, secure in the hospitality of Shurenga and her Children. After a surprisingly normal dinner hosted by the queenly daughter of Tarus herself, we’d all bedded down, ringed around the lava pit in the center of this obsidian room.

But sleep was elusive, leaving me to stare up at the ceiling. The Shurengans must have polished the obsidian, because I could faintly see my own faintly glowing emerald eyes staring back at me from that black mirror. The flowing, flickering light cast by the lava only enhanced the effect.

I gazed up into my own eyes for hours. Perhaps it was my mind playing tricks upon me, but I swore there was a mocking glint in the stare that relentlessly bore into me.

Had I done the right thing? Was it the right decision, to turn down the position of ‘Envoy’ in the service of Tarus, Great Spirit of the Sun? Hundreds, perhaps thousands of Kawamarans would have jumped at the opportunity for the honor. With their religion, I’m sure my refusal would have sent a number of them into a frothing rage.

But…I was wary of entering into any kind of contract, with anyone these days. The freedom I’d enjoyed over my months of recuperation in Hinaga had been so intoxicating. Ever since I’d been tossed into the deep end of Vereden, I’d been running from one crisis to the next, but now that was finished. If I signed up with Tarus, who was apparently devoted to protecting the Veredenese from extraordinary threats, then I knew in my bones that freedom would vanish into the literal Aether. I would start running once again, at the mercy of another existence that was far older, and far, far more powerful than I was.

Tarus’s offer…it was making me think quite a bit about the nature of my relationship with Grey.

My mentor had never done anything to make me question him. From the day I had met the eclipsean eyes of Grey, he had been forthwith towards me. He had never hidden a single intention about what he expected from the two of us. We had started together as fellow slaves, bound together under the crushing grip of a spoiled madman. He’d been quite candid about how he wanted to see what I could do to free the both of us from bondage. Later, once we’d gotten to know each other better, he had extended the offer of apprenticeship towards me. Naturally, I had accepted. I mean, what else was I going to do? Turn down a kindness from a person of considerable means, when I was a castaway upon a magical alien planet? You’d have to be a madman to do something like that.

Except…

Had Grey been forthwith towards me? There was no need to make me his official apprentice. I…sometimes I felt like I didn’t know Grey, in a manner other than official. Oh, we took meals with each other, and he had always made time for lessons. But…anything more than that was rare.

Intellectually, I knew that the man had been deeply involved in the running of the Order, in the midst of an actual civil war. The little time Grey could spare for me was more than generous of him, in consideration of that. But…

But…I couldn’t help wondering.

Did Grey just want a weapon? Had he seen the opportunity to mold a Precursor into his own personal attack dog, when he offered me the chance to join the Nocturne Division? I had barely questioned it at the time. Thrown into the midst of a civil war, after having lost an arm not long ago, and after having been enslaved…

I think…I had been desperate for a purpose. Had Grey…seen that, and decided to take advantage?

Rhazal himself had told me that Precursors had been seduced into being divine weapons, in the ancient past…

Perhaps I’d been too quick to accept. Perhaps I’d felt desperate to repay the debt I felt, at how Grey had so neatly found a spot for me in Herztalian dynasty. He…hadn’t seemed angry at how I’d told him about my intentions to abandon the war, back in Elderwyck. More sad, really.

I clenched my teeth hard. Hard enough that I feared the grinding would wake my companions, resting about me.

God, I hated myself for doubting Grey right now. I hadn’t realized how fragile, in some ways, I still felt after the events of Elderwyck. Maybe it was just the gloom of this cave at this late hour that was getting to me. But I couldn’t quell my fears.

Maybe…they had always existed.

Eventually, I think it was the exhaustion of several days of hard marching across the stony plains of Goryuen that did me in.

Sleep crept over me like an insidious fog, causing my eyelids to drift to a fitful close.

I doubted my rest would be pleasant.

…………………………………….

Crashing.

Roaring.

Screeches in the dark.

Silence…deep, echoing, all-encompassing silence.

The twang of endless bows.

A finger lifting my chin.

“You want to know why?”

A shadow…

A shadow of MADNESS…

……………………………………..

I jerked awake, violently shooting straight up into a sitting position, eyes wide in panic, breath coming in short, sharp gasps.

Or rather, I tried to sit up.

Turns out, Azarus had been trying to wake me up. My dwarven friend was bending down towards me with an outstretched hand, moments away from shaking my shoulder. My core ring, immune to my panic, idly noted that he must have been trying to wake me.

But I was blind to its rationality.

My jerking instead turning into a lunge, shoulder-checking Azarus and sending him flat onto the obsidian floor of Mt. Umetsuji. I stared into his golden eyes, the shade of dwarven nobility, and for a moment…

For a moment, I saw a dead-man.

Or rather…a dead dwarf.

My ears rang, and through the ringing I swore I heard a hateful voice.

“Throwing a tantrum, cattle? Typical of your kind…”

An old hatred rolled over me like a wave, and I tightened my grip on…something. I was holding something…wasn’t I? My hands were curled around a haft as familiar to me as the pencils from my youth, and yet I was barely conscious of it.

All I could focus on was the gold dominating my field of view, the depths of those pools growing ever more alarmed by the second.

Good.

You should fear me, Magnus.

I’d kill you a thousand thousand times and never feel satisfied.

Distant shouting from my surroundings penetrated the haze of madness I found myself drifting in. Slowly, ever so slowly, I grew more and more cognizant, the murk of poor sleep and the disquiet of nightmares fading away.

I…for the first time, I realized what I was doing. Consciously, that is.

I was crouched over the still form of my best friend, one of my daggers held to his throat. The razor-sharp edge of the Oninite blade was close enough that I could see a handful of fire-truck red hairs had been shaved away, to drift onto his Adam's apple.

I stilled. For a moment, I was petrified of making a single movement. Had I…had I almost killed Azarus?

How…how could I…do that?

Below me, Azarus must have seen a change in me, that my alarmed companions could not. “You there, Nate?” He whispered up to me, careful not to enunciate too hard.

Lest the blade do its purpose.

My lips parting in horror, I slowly, slowly drew the dagger away from him. I shook my head as I did so. “Azarus…I’m…so-”

Before I could finish speaking, two pairs of hard armored hands clamped onto my arms and shoulders and wrenched me away from the prone dwarf. The dagger fell away from my limp fingers to clatter onto the obsidian below, and four strong arms wrapped around me in restraint. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t struggle my way out of this grip, not with all of my Skills.

But I didn’t want to. All I could do was stare at the form of my oldest friend in Vereden, gingerly accepting a hand up from Renauld. I wanted to flinch as I saw him rub carefully at his neck under his beard, but I was too numb to do so.

I didn’t even react as a renewed Kazuma came to stand in front of me, a wrapped blade strapped to his back, and his usual bared defensively before him.

Bella took offense, despite me thinking he had the right idea. In a flash, she drew her own cutlass and laid it across the Kawamaran samurai’s throat, standing off to the side. “Now what are ye goin’ ta do with that now, eh?” She murmured dangerously. Kazuma stilled, and dared not move an inch.

The tension in the room only increased, but I was barely aware as it was, still stuck in horror from my own actions.

“Stop, all of you!” A sharp female voice said, cutting through the chaos in the guest rooms. Unnaturally so, in fact.

Everyone in these volcanic walls, including the watchful, wary forms of Sena and Gin along the far wall, froze in place. So much so that I could barely blink, much less think of struggling against the steel bars of the arms holding me.

I was still able to watch as Shurenga padded into the room to interpose herself between the battle-ready Kazuma, and my restrained form. “There is no need for that, Lord Higanashi,” She murmured towards him, before turning to look at me. If I had the will, I would have quailed under her gaze. There was a purity to her slit amber eyes, but I would have flinched away from them if I could.

The gold reminded of who I had mistaken Azarus for, and what I’d nearly done to him.

The daughter of Tarus seemed to stare into my very soul for a moment, before abruptly nodding. “I see what has happened,” She announced to the room, still frozen in place. “This was an attack. Nathaniel Hart was not in control of his own actions.”

I wanted to blink.

What?

Everyone in the room unfroze all at once, as if released from a literal spell. Some stumbled in place, but not Venix, who I could tell had grabbed me off of Azarus. Slowly, Bella lowered her cutlass from Kazuma, who stepped away, eyeing the pirate warily. She just ignored him to focus on me, with a concerned look on her sharp features.

I couldn’t meet her eyes.

Liora was the first to recover, and stepped forward to give voice to our collective confusion. “Please elaborate, Lady Shurenga.”

“I shall. You may release him, Sir Venix,” Shurenga said, nodding to the Antium. “The danger has passed.”

Warily, the monstrously strong arms holding me…withdrew. Without them supporting me, I started to bonelessly slump to the ground. I…didn’t have the strength or the will to hold myself up.

Someone unexpected caught me before I could hit the stone.

Azarus.

Despite nearly killing him in a fit of madness only moments before, the dwarf had rushed forward to catch me in his hairy arms. I clung to them, and wanted to weep at what that meant. I drew in a shuddering breath, and met his eyes again. This time, I didn’t see the person who had enslaved me.

Only the most loyal person I had ever met greeted my eyes. Wordlessly, he nodded at me.

Shurenga watched us for a moment, sadness in her own eyes, and then turned to Liora. “Sir Hart’s…kind,” She said, dancing around actually saying the word Precursor.

I…appreciated it. I’m not sure I wanted Kazuma to know that about me.

Not yet.

“Are unusually susceptible to spiritual influence. There was…a disturbance, in the Concord last night. I suspect that everyone with even a trace of trace of a connection to that realm was affected by it.”

Sena padded forward, casting a considering gaze at me as she did so. Still, her attention was on her progenitor. “I…did sleep poorly last night, Mother. I considered it odd, after such an enjoyable evening. Was that why? What happened?”

Shurenga took a deep breath then, and seemed to frown. “The Mad God stirs.” She announced grimly.

…oh. That…didn’t sound good.

Alveron’s grandsire…and the last god on Vereden was now active.

“Shit,” I heard from above me. Shockingly, the curse had come from Venix, who had crossed his arms in displeasure. I’d never heard such a thing from the samurai.

With Azarus’s help, I struggled to my feet. “What does that mean? Is he attacking somewhere?”

Shurenga shook her head sharply. “No, thankfully. I had time to consult Father before your…episode, Nathaniel, and he believes he knows what happened. Normally, the Mad God rests in the ruins of Smaragd, quiescent from the bloody sacrifices of his barbarous subjects. But last night, he stirred, and it was as if a titanic foot kicked out at the Concord, disturbing the surface of it to send waves across the whole of Vereden. They crashed over the Spiritually connected and sensitive, and the echo of his own madness infected the dreams of hundreds. I believe you were…especially receptive to it due to your nature.”

“I nearly killed someone, Shurenga,” I said hoarsely. I felt a wide, rough palm come to a rest on my shoulder, but did not turn to face the owner. Bella came to stand at my side, and discreetly slid her hand into my own. I don’t think anyone even noticed, caught up in the ancient Mystic Beasts explanation.

But I did, and I appreciated it fiercely.

“But you didn’t,” She replied gently. “The madness of Fynneas is not to be underestimated. You are still a mortal, Nathaniel. With your connection to one of Elys’s children, you are doubly sensitive to matters of this nature. I highly recommend you take up the study of Mind Magic as your first true school, if only to build sufficient defenses.”

I was starting to calm down now, and shook my head slowly. “That’s going to be a problem,” I muttered, thinking about my troubles channeling Mana. At Shurenga’s curious look, I changed the subject. “What caused the Mad God to stir the way he did? Did Tarus know?”

A troubled look crossed her furry face. “He did not. And neither did Lady Elys, when he spoke to her. But this does not bode well, young ones. I suggest you hurry and finish your business here upon Goryuen. Events of import are happening upon the mainland.”

Nobody could gainsay her, and so we rapidly began to pack our supplies once more.

It was time to begin the final push into the heart of Goryuen.

<<Chapter 252 | Table of Contents | Chapter 254>>

Chapter 252 - Envoy

Ah.

That was both…expected and unexpected, honestly. Just before he had left the scene of my duel with Rhazal in the Concord, Tarus had made a cryptic remark about ‘seeing if we can work something out’. I’d wondered what he meant about that, over the last few months. I suppose I was about to find out.

I fixed a polite smile on my face. “And what does Lord Tarus want from me, Lady Shurenga?”

The burning saber-tooth eyed me pensively for a moment, before dipping her head towards one of the grass mats on the platform. “Come and sit with me, Nathaniel. And please, no need for formality here.”

I followed the Shurengan progenitor over to the mat and sat cross-legged in front of her, as she did the same upon her haunches. I waited patiently as she gathered her thoughts. I couldn’t help but notice the brief flicker of her amber eyes, as they glanced up almost dourly at the midday form of Tarus shining through the distance opening of Mt. Umetsuji.

Shurenga sighed slightly and then spoke. “My Father is…stubborn, at the best of times. Nosy, most of them. He and the Lady Elys pay constant attention to the people of Vereden during the times they bestride the sky. Little escapes their notice. From this snooping, Father has told me much of you and your companions, Nathaniel. And he has been keeping a very close eye on you indeed, of late.”

There was one suspicion confirmed. I suppose it might be a bit difficult to escape the notice of the literal sun.

Not…sure how I felt about that, honestly. It almost felt like an invasion of privacy. Like, no matter what I did, there was an all-knowing eye in the sky watching all that I did.

Scratch that, there was no almost about it.

I didn’t like the idea of anyone intruding on my life like that.

A small frown crossed my lips, and I didn’t bother hiding it.

Of course, Shurenga noticed. Her own feline lips curled humorlessly. “Believe me, I understand. I do love my Father, of course, but his attention can be a bit stifling. He is not…malicious, in his vigilance. It is merely the duty, the Mantle,” She stressed, almost exaggeratedly. “That he took upon himself, long ago. Father watches, endlessly, for those threats that would harm this world. He sees much, but does not speak unless necessary. In fact, Father has quite the reputation for trustworthiness, if you can believe it.”

I hummed, folding my hands on my lap. “Is that so? When I met him, Tarus seemed almost…bloodthirsty, to be honest.”

“Because he is also prideful,” Shurenga said wryly. “He takes his role so seriously that there is a saying, in Kawamara society. ‘The sun may shine, but it does not sing’. And so, to ‘sing’, is considered to be spouting falsehoods. Perhaps you will have noticed that song was not very common, during your days in Hinaga?”

I blinked at that. My core ring rapidly reviewed our time in the capital and…

I couldn’t recall a single time I’d ever come across an actual song. Either in the single play I’d attended with my friends, or in any of the tea houses. Music, of course, wasn’t uncommon. It was just nonverbal and mostly came from skillful fingers plucking at instruments. Even the play had mostly involved spoken poetry and grand speeches, with the occasional background melody.

I…just hadn’t picked up on that.

“Father’s pride was slighted, a very long time ago, by the particular Calamity you slew Nathaniel. He was quite ecstatic about his death. And so we come to his offer.”

Here we go.

Shurenga leaned forward, a glint in her eye. “Are you aware of Blessings?”

I inclined my head to her. “That’s how Mystic Beasts are created, right? A Greater Spirit extends their Blessing towards a young animal, granting them a degree of Mysticality. With it, the animal gains full sapience and accumulates power, to where they eventually become a Spirit themselves upon their death.”

“Just so,” Shurenga said, with a fanged smile. “Such a thing happened to me, many a century ago. But did you also know it’s possible for Greater Spirits to extend a different form of blessing to mortals?”

…sort of.

I don’t think I would ever forget the sight of the Thunderheart Clan transforming into Werewolves under the full and heavy light of Elys, guided by Taran. It was the kind of thing that stuck with you.

Wait a minute.

I’d never thought of it in those terms, but…wasn’t I a kind of Were creature now? Vis Maledicta Exactoris wasn’t all that dissimilar to that type of transformation?

What did that make me? A…Werebat? Wereraptor?

My core ring promptly called me a ‘Werebraptor’, and I promptly told it to kill itself.

I think part of my all-too-familiar internal struggle showed on my face, considering the odd look that Shurenga cast my way. I plastered a smile on my face as my core laughed at me. “Yes, I’m familiar with that as well. But my understanding was that it wasn’t possible any longer, with the advent of the System?”

Shurenga quirked an eyebrow at me. “Oh? So you’ve encountered Taran’s little pack, have you?” She mused, before shaking her head. “That is only one kind of Blessing that can be bestowed, and not the kind I’m speaking of. Taran is also not a Great Spirit, Nathaniel. No…I’m speaking of a form of Blessing the Great Spirits can bestow upon favored mortals that the System allows.”

“Envoyship.”

The light cast by Tarus, shining from above, intensified for a moment. Oddly, both my skin and the core of my soul, the crystalline tree that shined with the rainbow flame of my most powerful Skill, warmed from the sensation.

It was an…odd sensation.

I forced my hackles down and met Shurenga’s knowing eyes. “And what is ‘Envoyship’?”

“A gift of power,” She continued. “Of responsibility…and comradery. One that is held by someone I am told you’re quite close to, Nathaniel. Care to take a guess?”

I furrowed my brow at the teasing tone in her voice. It…wasn’t hard to figure out who she was talking about.

“Grey,” I said quietly. “Grey is an Envoy?”

Shurenga inclined her head. “Indeed. Greycton is the only currently active Envoy upon Vereden. Many years ago, the Ivory Lady bestowed her Blessing upon the mortal she had come to love. He who stole the love of my Father is also the tip of her spear. And in return, he was granted a sliver of her power to wield as he saw fit. The form it took was of his own choosing, and he has wielded it to great effect.”

“…what form would that be?”

“He carries it out in the open, for all to see. The slender form of that instrument carried him to stand as the current pinnacle of humanity.”

Slender form…

I sucked in a breath, my eyes widening. “Elarux! The staff!”

I’d always wondered what the deal with that thing was.

Shurenga’s smile widened, and she nodded at me. “Indeed. Greycton of the Shadowed ‘Sun’,” She rolled her eyes. “Chose for his Envoyship to take the form of a weapon of terrible might. It’s not uncommon for Envoys to do such a thing, and thus the Spire of Night descended upon Vereden once again.”

Hmm…

“Well, there’s a problem there, my lady,” I said wryly. “I’m not exactly wanting for weapons. In fact, I perhaps have too many of them.”

Between Tlazo’s staff and my own creations, I was almost drowning in armaments. With my General Weapons Talent fueling my extendable spears, Terractus, my unnamed bow, and hell! Even the handful of throwing knives I literally had up my sleeves, I wasn’t hurting for weapons. I slipped one slim Oninite blade out for her to see as a demonstration, considering that was all I had on me. I’d left everything else back in the guest room with the others to watch over since we were nominally in friendly territory.

Nominally.

Shurenga was unmoved. “As I said. Greycton’s choice was merely one form of the Envoy's Blessing,” She said patiently. “If you accepted my Father’s offer, then it need not necessarily be that of a weapon. Your gift could come in a number of distinct fashions. In the past, Tarusian Envoys have chosen powerful abilities that are marked on their Statuses as Unique Skills. Gifts of knowledge, or even wealth are not out of the question. Even a channel directly connected to Tarus himself, as a font of raw power is possible. Weapons of unquestioned power are simply one form the Blessing can take. Once…” She trailed off before rallying. “Once, an Envoy asked for a direct intervention of Tarus himself, here in the physical. That conflict was soon ended.”

I was quiet for a moment, considering that.

There were…things I could ask for, that were far more tempting than merely a strong stick or a sharp blade. Knowledge…that stuck out to me in particular.

I had…so many questions I wanted answers to, that an ancient being like Tarus could provide for me. Things that could benefit either me, my companions, or even Vereden as a whole. For instance…

I could just ask for what I’d come to Goryuen in the first place. The knowledge and secrets that were waiting for me in the bunker, on this very isle. Surely Tarus was old and knowledgeable enough to know what was waiting for me in there?

Knowledge about Precursors in general. There was…so much up in the air, about what I was.

Grey said we were mysteries.

Alveron said we were weapons, poised at the hearts of the gods.

Nehushtan had called us failures.

Where did the truth lie? Maybe…Tarus could tell me.

But I was wary of signing up with anyone else, at this point. I had just gotten out of one war, as a blade in the dark. I didn’t want to immediately jump right back into another. I was finding that I quite enjoyed my freedom, since my exit at the tail end of the Construct War. Besides…

“What does Tarus ask in return?” I asked quietly. “What price does an Envoy pay, for power?”

“It differs, from Great Spirit to Great Spirit,” Shurenga said, twitching an ear. “In ages past, Greatuncle Orus required grand works of his Envoys. They would forge and craft miraculous monuments to his majesty before he grew tired of the world and retreated to slumber. Lady Neris called for blood, the sacrifice of those who would befoul the oceans. Lady Elys…before Greycton, her Envoys were paragons of justice. They ventured the land to rectify great injustices born in the dark, seen by her watchful eyes. But since she took her new lover…well. None know what she asks of the Shadowed Sun.”

I waited a moment for her to continue, but she didn’t continue. The great cat seemed lost in thought. “And Anima?” I prompted. “What does she ask?”

That snapped Shurenga out of her contemplation. “Ah,” She paused briefly. “Apologies, but Lady Anima has never taken an Envoy. In all of the history of this world, not once has she gifted her power to another. The Font of Life is elusive at the best of times. However, it was Father you were asking about. Tarus asks for vigilance.”

I furrowed my brow. “Vigilance? From what?”

Shurenga smiled softly at me. “Why, threats of course. Calamities, rogue gods, mad beasts…anything that threatens the balance of peace on Vereden or within the Concord. If the danger grows too great for mortals to handle it, my Father asks that his Envoys step forth and…deal with the problem.”

I…

Well, that made up my mind almost immediately.

I wasn’t interested in being the guardian of an entire damned planet. I had enough problems on my plate as it was, without signing up for such a task. If I was going to help Vereden in a way like that, I was going to do it on my terms.

My rules.

And it wasn’t like I had no clues to find the answers I sought. I was here, in this place, looking for them now.

I could get by without Tarus.

I fixed a polite smile on my face and stood up from the grass mat I sat upon. I bowed at the still sitting form of Shurenga. “I thank you and your Lord Father for the generous offer,” I said smoothly. “But I’ll have to decline.”

The light shining from overhead dimmed. Flicking my eyes up, I saw enough time had passed for the bright form of Tarus to pass over the rim of the caldera. It might have been my imagination, but the circular impression of the sun as it intersected the rock almost looked like a…frown, as mad as that sounded.

“As you wish, Nathaniel,” I heard Shurenga say, entirely unbothered. Looking back at her, I saw that the matriarch was unruffled by my refusal. In fact, there was an almost amused tint to the flicking of her two tails. “My Father is prideful, but he can take a refusal. However…,” One of those tails reached up and into the flaming mass of her ‘hair’. Inexplicably, it wasn’t burned as it somehow withdrew what seemed to be a small, orange stone. The tail whipped it in my direction.

I caught it without thinking, afraid for a moment that it would be burning hot to the touch. But no, it was as cool as any other stone. Looking down, I saw that it was…beautiful, to be honest. The little gem held in my gloved Primordium hand appeared almost as if it was fire itself, frozen and shaped into a teardrop. Whorls of reds, oranges, and yellows danced in the light of the caldera as I turned the stone back and forth.

I looked back up as Shurenga spoke again. “If ever you change your mind, shatter the stone and Father’s attention shall fall on you at once. Then, you may bargain for the Aegis of the Envoy if you so wish.” At that, Shurenga stood up. “Well! If that’s over with, then let us adjourn. Father’s offer has been heard and rejected, and so I say it is time for supper. I believe your dwarven friend was grilling for the amusement of my children? I should quite like to try his fare.”

I slipped the stone into one of my pouches, and followed Shurenga out of volcano’s heart. I was quiet on the walk back to the guest room, pondering the opportunity that I’d summarily refused.

Had I made the right decision? Was I just being as prideful as Tarus himself, by turning him down?

I guess time will tell.

…………………………………

AN:

There was a point to this chapter. I’m setting up something that might or might not seem obvious. It’s going to take a while to pay off, though.

<<Chapter 251 | Table of Contents | Chapter 253>>

Chapter 251 - Offering the Heart

The ‘guest rooms’ turned out to be a small side cave inside of the volcano, with a small, placid pool of lava in the center. The walls were smooth, glassy obsidian, much like the rest of the main cave had been, and honestly?

The air wasn’t even that hot in here. Strange, really. The temperature on the approach to Mt. Umetsuji had been gradually rising, to the extent that I’d sweated quite a lot on the hike, but now that we were here it was nearly balmy. Warm, but not as scorching as you would expect the heart of a volcano to be. Especially not one that was clearly still active, as we could see from the glowing lava in our little cave.

As Azarus set up a little grill over the glowing pool, entirely unbothered by the skin-scorching heat of the lava that was still hot, I decided to ask Sena about it. The two talking saber-tooths had followed us into the room to act as apparent chaperones, while Kazuma conducted his business with Shurenga. We’d all settled on woven grass mats that were strewn about the obsidian room, while curious felines of all shapes and sizes poked their heads around the doorway to watch us.

I didn’t mind. I’m sure we were odd to them. Besides, I had both the conversation to occupy my attention, as well as a purring cub in my lap. The matriarch and her charges had followed us as well.

Predictably, she could speak as well, and had introduced herself stiffly as Mitsuri.

“I expected it to be hotter in here, you know,” I said to Sena, resting on another mat not far from me. “What with being a volcano.”

Sena cracked an eye open to look at me, but Gin answered first. The other guardian was watching attentively as Azarus laid the meat from a recent hunt on the now scorching hot rack. As the smell of grilling meat filled the air, drawing even more curious onlookers, Gin somehow found the will to direct his attention my way. “That’s because mom doesn’t want it that way, yeah?”

I blinked slowly at the words.

‘Mom’, huh.

Sena twitched one of her tails at her apparent sibling's words. “Gin is correct. The might of our Lady Mother prevents the temperature of Mt. Umetsuji from becoming unbearable in these halls. Although we are aligned with the sun, and thus fire, we are still creatures that naturally bear a coat. As you can imagine, it would be quite unpleasant to live in extremely elevated temperatures, when we are so covered in fur.”

“You can say that again,” Renauld called out, from where he was laying flat. Liora even gave a small nod in agreement from her own grass mat, where she was checking her armor for flaws.

I accepted a small travel plate of grilled fowl from Azarus with a thankful nod, and dug into it. While I chewed, I considered our hosts thoughtfully. I think I had more insight into the workings of the Great Spirits and their Mystic Beasts than most did, and I was starting to make some connections about the Children of Shurenga.

Most notably, that they were the Children of Shurenga, and not Tarus himself.

I finished my meal and set the plate aside, where a nearby cub promptly pounced on it and crunched into the bones. I ignored it. “You guys aren’t normal Mystic Beasts, are you?” I announced.

That drew some curious looks from my companions, but it was the reactions of the Shurengans that caught my eye. Not one of them denied the allegations.

Instead, Sena nodded at me. “You are correct, Sir Hart,” She acknowledged. “It is our mother who is the half-Spirit, as the only daughter of Lord Tarus. We…are different, as her children. In truth, not all of us are actually her children. Gin and I are,” She said with an acknowledging nod to the male. “But we have sired our own cubs, and they their own, to form a number of different familial lines. We are…wholly physical. An existence that, to our knowledge, stands alone.”

“Which is why there are so many of us,” Gin said lazily, not even bothering to raise his head. “We know how regular Mystic Beasts come into being, and there sure as hells isn’t a Great Spirit involved with our births. We’re born as we are, just like you and yours.”

Bella spoke up from where she had been dozing. The pirate captain had decided to catch a nap while we waited for Kazuma and Shurenga to be done, but the conversation had roused her. She cocked an eyebrow at the two guardians. “Then do ye got a Status?”

Sena shook her head. “No, we do not. As I said, we…we’re in a halfway state between the mortals and the Spirits, even more so than regular Mystic Beasts. I…sometimes wonder, why we haven’t been acknowledged by the System in such a way. It is my understanding that a new Race was granted Statuses, some time ago. But not us, who have surely existed for much longer than they.”

Ah. She was talking about the Second Initialization, where the Sculpted had been granted their Statuses and, for those of them still dormant, full sapience. It was curious to me that they’d heard about that, when they must have limited contact with the outside world. Maybe Tarus kept them appraised of what was going on outside the shores of Goryuen?

Hell, it’s probably why they had known we were coming, now that I thought about it.

Here Sena hesitated before speaking again. “In truth…” She said slowly. “In truth, I have always been curious. It is said that Awakened have an ability called Observe. With it, they can quantify the existence of all things in this world. We…I…do not know what this ability would say we are.”

I sat up at that. Hell, that caught the attention of most of my group. Venix even cracked an eye, from where he sat cross-legged meditating against a wall. I exchanged a glance with him before speaking. “I…could try, if you’d like?”

Sena was quiet for a moment, before nodding wordlessly. In fact, I noticed that most of the chatter and play in the ‘guest room’ had come to a halt. I was fixed with more than a few pairs of quiet, curious feline eyes.

I took the hint and cast Observe directly at Sena. As the crimson-furred saber-tooth shivered at the sensation, I took in the results.

Name: Sena of the Silent Claw

Age: 432 years

Species: Unaligned

What? I had never seen something like that. Even when I had observed other Mystic Beasts, such as Fade or even the Foliathoptera back in Sancthaven, they had still displayed a Species name. Not whatever ‘Unaligned’ meant.

Sena was right. There was something odd going on with the System when it came to them.

I reported my findings to our curious patrons.

“Strange,” Sena whispered thoughtfully, echoing my own conclusions.

Meanwhile, Gin sat up from where he’d been reclining. For once, he had a serious cast to his feline features. “I don’t consider myself ‘Unaligned’,” He said bluntly. “I know exactly where my loyalties lie.”

There were a number of answering, agreeing nods from various other cats strewn about the room. The cubs were too young to understand the question, but even they could feel the shift in mood. Some of them, even the one in my lap, mewed in distress. I did my best to comfort them, while Mitsuri did the same.

Strangely, Sena wasn’t one of the Shurengans to agree with the others. Instead, she stared out into space thoughtfully, seemingly unaware of the room.

I think all of us were surprised when a familiar voice echoed from out of the room, sending the curious window-peekers there scurrying away.

“Because, my children, you all very much not Unaligned,” the voice of Shurenga sounded. I turned in place, expecting to see her huge muzzle poking through the doorway and staring at us.

Instead, I found a miniature version of the previously titanic feline waltzing into the room into the room as if she owned it. Instead of being several stories tall, the daughter of Tarus was instead smaller even than Sena and Gin, coming up to barely face height with my sitting form. She winked at my surprised expression.

I…guess she could change her size, huh? Made me wonder if Taran could do the same thing.

Following behind her the flame-maned tiger was a white-faced Kazuma. The normally stolid samurai was swaying on his feet, looking to be beyond exhausted and soaked in sweat. Actually, taking another look, I swear there wasn’t enough blood in his cheeks. He frankly looked a bit anemic.

But he also seemed fiercely triumphant, because he had something carried in his arms.

A long, cloth-wrapped bundle, about the length, width, and shape of katana. Nothing was visible on the obscured form of the weapon, but its presence filled the room just as Shurenga did.

Even several feet away, I could tell that this weapon outshone even Grey’s own Stellarum or even Honoka’s Kasai. Maybe only Grey’s staff Elarux could compete in sheer Aetherial density, to the empty-tasting power that surrounded that ancient blade. My own Terractus, as well as the staff that Tlazo had lent me, paled in comparison to any of them.

As much as I had grown, it was a sobering reminder of just how high the ceiling was.

While I and most of my companions were distracted by the sight of the sword, Venix even rising to his feet, the Shurengans were fixing their attention on their matriarch. “I expect our guests have never used their ‘Observe’ ability on a true Spirit in the past, am I correct?”

I dragged my gaze away from Kazuma as he walked into the room and slumped onto a grass mat before the lava pit. “Ah.” I tilted my head in thought. “I…haven’t, no.”

Honestly, it just hadn’t occurred to me to try, back in the Concord. I’d had bigger problems at the time.

Venix ignored the question altogether to crouch before Kazuma and begin whispering to him. For once, the other samurai didn’t look at the Antium like detritus to be scraped from the bottom of his sandal, and actually answer him. I couldn’t hear them, though.

However, the rest of my friends indicated they hadn’t as well.

“I thought so,” Shurenga said, nodding wisely. “If you had, you would know that it is the term any Spirit would be deemed as by the System.”

That snapped Sena out of her contemplation. She tilted her head in confusion. “But, Mother, we are not Spirits. Nor are we destined to become them.”

“You are not, but the System does not care,” Shurenga said. “It is a peculiarity that Mystic Beasts can be quantified, but not Spirits. And not whatever you have become, my beloved children. A mystery, in truth.”

Another dead end when it came to the System. They popped up all the time.

Just another day on Vereden.

“But enough of this,” The progenitor of the Shurengans announced. “As you can see, the blade has been rebound to Clan Higanashi, and their Lord has it once more.” She said, inclining her head towards the nearly delirious Kazuma. In fact, the samurai was so concerning to look at that Renauld had sat up and gone to tend him.

Venix stood up from his crouch as the Gnoll’s hands glowed the green of a diagnostic spell, hovering over Kazuma’s head. Strangely, there was a small smile on his lips, as he gazed down at the miniaturized Shurenga. “Temporarily, it seems.”

I cocked an eyebrow her way. Shurenga, however, shook her head. “Not so, Sir Venix. It is merely…a weak bond. It could grow, to be certain. However, it will take time to settle upon the bloodline and Kazuma’s soul both. Why, if a great deal of Aether were to be absorbed by the blade all at once, say…from a Core Collapse, perhaps. Both it and the blade itself may well shatter into a thousand thousand pieces.”

There was a sly, sly smile on those furred lips.

Oh, Tarus was definitely keeping an eye on us and talking to his daughter.

The matching smile on Venix’s lips grew, and he bowed slightly at the waist at Shurenga. There was respect and gratitude both visible in his posture. She merely inclined her head in queenly acknowledgment while I absorbed that.

Well, it looked like Kazuma wasn’t going to be killing himself anytime soon. Wonder if he knew anything about that.

I doubted it, with the way he was nodding off into Renauld’s claws.

“In any case…,” Shurenga trailed off, looking over at me. I straightened at her regard. “Sir Hart, if you will accompany me? We have some business as well.”

I blinked, but nodded and got to my feet. I’d been expecting something like this, from the near wink the feline had shot me earlier. “Please, lead the way, Lady Shurenga. I’ll be back later, guys.”

My companions bid me farewell as I followed the daughter of Tarus out of the guest room and into the main thoroughfare. I saw a number of different Shurengans scamper out of the path of their matriarch, said Mystic Beast nearly purring in amusement at their antics. Once upon the path, she led me back into the heart of the mountain. Back to where I suspect she had bound the blade to Kazuma.

When we reached the end of the obsidian path, it opened up into a chamber. A truly massive one, that seemed to reside in the very center of the volcano itself. A long shaft stretched far up above me to where an opening to the sky revealed Tarus himself to be visible directly overhead of the mouth of Mt. Umetsuji, high into the blue yonder.

I found the timing required for that to be…a tad suspect, but didn’t comment on it.

Meanwhile, we stood on a simple circular platform of stone that was suspended in the middle of the shaft. Four struts of obsidian stone held it aloft, and upon it were simple woven grass mats covering the surface of the platform. The surface of the terrace itself was nearly glasslike in appearance, from how smooth the blackened surface was. I swear, it didn't look like this platform had been carved, so much as melted into place.

I walked to the edge, and looked down.

Below, the shaft stretched downwards into darkness. Something glowed below us in that abyss, visible from a great distance. I suspect I knew what that was, and had no desire to test the inferno by falling towards it. As I watched, the light at the bottom of the shaft pulsed ever so slowly, just the once.

“The heart of Mt. Umetsuji,” I heard Shurenga say, as she joined me in looking over the edge. “We keep it placated, and the mountain allows us to reside within its bosom.”

I looked at her askance at that. ‘Placated’?

“Not…with sacrifice, right?”

Shurenga smirked at me with furry lips. “Not mortal, at least.”

I blinked, and decided I didn’t want to know. Instead, I changed the subject. “So, what did you want to talk to me about, Lady Shurenga?”

Said feline shrugged one shoulder at me. “Oh, I have nothing for you personally, Sir Hart. Rather…it is my Father that I speak on behalf of.”

“He wishes to make a deal with you, Precursor.”

<<Chapter 250 | Table of Contents | Chapter 252>>

Chapter 250 - Sun-Bound

The feline that had exited the cave to gaze down at us in patient amusement was…gigantic. Next to Rhazal, they had to be the single largest creature I’d ever seen on Vereden, including Taran. The elderly Spirit Wolf had to be at least a single, massive head’s worth shorter than them.

Well.

Maybe not with the horns. That might just barely put him on the same level as the enormous saber-toothed tiger that loomed over us.

Because there was plenty of looming going on. The new arrival was much the same as the (relatively) smaller forms of Sena and Gin that had bowed at her arrival. She had the same basic body plan, the same proportions if only writ larger, but one major difference.

From her scalp, and surrounding her massive ears, flowed a mane of pure flame. It was not like that of a lion, as it reminded me more of what a human woman would have. It did not lay flat, and instead waved and flowed through the breeze with an almost fluid grace. Tongues and flickers of languid fire rolled down her back in a sheet that covered her almost like a cloak. Though she was close, and the curiously questing flames of her hair wisped low enough to nearly brush us, I felt no heat. Somehow I knew that the inferno would not harm me unless their owner wished for them to. But there was something almost familiar about the pressure of that fire.

After a moment, I sucked in a breath in realization.

That was her Mantle. Somehow, this creature had a physical Mantle, something that I’d thought was impossible. All of the Mantles I’d experienced in the past had been more of a sensation or an environmental phenomenon. Not a real thing.

“I…am Shurenga,” The massive Mystic Beast said proudly. “First and only daughter of Tarus, and the watcher of this nexus point. And you…are expected. All of you.” Her eyes drifted over each member of my party, the weight of her gaze affecting us all differently. However, I noticed that it settled longest on three of us in particular.

Me, Venix…

And Kazuma.

Said samurai finally shook off his shock and pushed his way to the front of our formation. “The flame that stalks…” He breathed, gazing up at Shurenga in astonishment. “Found where the silence burns…”

Shurenga blinked slowly, languidly at the words. “Interesting wording, child of the Higanashi Clan. Not untrue, but interesting. Tell me, where do they come from?”

Venix stepped forward then, catching her attention. “The dying words of a long lost brother-in-arms,” He said gravely, unexpectedly frowning up at her. “The boy told me of how, in his last moments, he spoke of my master’s blade, under your apparent protection. How did he come to know such a truth, O’Spirit?”

The enormous feline didn’t take offense to the Antium’s tone, although I saw that Sena did. The other cat almost appeared to be frowning in disapproval at him. In the meanwhile, more and more of the Shurengans had begun to appear. From the crags of the volcano itself as well as the mouth of the cave, they emerged from their hiding spots. Saber-tooths of all ages came to watch the conversation between us, seemingly unafraid to be in the presence of strangers.

To be fair, I’m not sure I would be afraid either if such a massively powerful being was my protector. Much less the already conventionally intimidating forms of Sena and Gin.

In fact, a troupe of curious cubs came bounding up to stare up at us in curiosity. To my surprise, only purrs and meows exited their furry little mouths, instead of the words that their elders used. But, that made sense. Not even Fade could talk like they could, and he was much older than these little tykes. I looked up from them briefly to see the same matriarch I had encountered multiple times before watching cautiously. Our eyes met, and after a considering look, she nodded grudgingly.

Permission granted, I guess.

I bent down and began to pet and play with the little cubs, to their obvious joy. Unsurprisingly, Liora and Bella joined me in playing with the kittens, since, well.

They were kind of irresistible, with those wide golden eyes tiny little fangs.

Besides.

It’s not like this was my show, anyway. I wasn’t the one after the sword, and it didn’t look like there was going to be a fight.

The sideshow happening behind Venix’s and Kazuma’s backs didn’t escape Shurenga’s notice, to her amusement, but she still answered the Antium. “You…I remember you,” She said musingly. “You were younger then, but you accompanied the soldiers during the last Ryumetsu Matsuri.”

Venix frowned up at her. “I do not remember you.”

Shurenga’s enormous, furry lips curled into an almost smile, her whiskers twitching. “That does not mean I was not there. After all, I had to be close if I wished to retrieve that which I suspect you are here for.”

Kazuma sucked in a quick, eager breath, his entire body vibrating with excitement. I couldn’t help but notice that the look he fixed the elder Mystic Beast with was almost hungry.

“You did not answer my question, daughter of the sun,” Venix said. “How did Jiro of the Flickering Storm come to know of your existence?”

Slowly, Shurenga eased down until she was laying her great furry belly. Delicately, she curled one paw up under her body and regarded Venix with a considering look. “Because we found him, of course. Your Jiro was half dead in the aftermath of that battle, and wandered the outer jungles for a week before discovery. Sena,” She said with a nod to the other saber-tooth, who dipped her own head at the acknowledgment. “Believes he woke sometime in the aftermath of the battle, only to find himself abandoned. Wounded and alone, she guided him back to the beaches, where thankfully a single ship still resided, picking over the leavings of war.”

“There, I hoped he would receive the healing he so needed,” Sena said quietly. “Sadly, our people are not adept in the medicinal arts. Tell me, did he survive?”

Kazuma snapped out of his greed to answer her. “Ah…no, my lady,” He said, a tad awkwardly. “Sir Jiro unfortunately passed of an infection not long after he made it back to the capital.”

“That…is a shame,” Sena’s ears lowered, flattening against her head as she bowed it.

Venix…sighed then, and bowed his own head towards the smaller Shurengan. “Thank you for attempting to save him, at least. Jiro was…a good friend, once upon a time,” With a slight shake of it, the Antium. “To business, then. Lady Shurenga, you implied that the Shōmetsu no Kiba was in your possession?”

The much larger feline curled its lips then. She dipped her head in his direction. “I do possess the blade. It’s right behind me, within the heart of Mt. Umetsuji.”

Seemingly unable to stop himself, Kazuma took an eager step forward. He was stopped in place, freezing, when the enormous Mystic Beast raised her voice sharply.

“However! There is a slight…problem, if you wish to reclaim it.”

I stood up from my playing with the cubs to a few mews of disappointment. Heroically, I hardened my heart to the adorable cries and sighed.

Things could never be simple.

“And what exactly is the problem, my lady?” I asked.

In a strangely human gesture, the apparent daughter of Tarus extended claws larger than I was from her right paw, and began to tap them against the stone of the caldera. The tinkling stone of stone cracking under the slightest pressure exerted by the Mystic Beast filled my ears, as she visibly pondered the question. “When one considers artifacts as mighty as the Shōmetsu no Kiba,” She began slowly. “The concept of ownership enters a conceptual level. Many years ago, the blade was bound to the bloodline of the Higanashi Clan by the then sitting Emperor.”

She nodded to the form of Kazuma, nearly vibrating in place from impatience. I think if he dared, he would dash past the Shurengans to ransack their home looking for his ancestral blade.

But luckily, he wasn’t that stupid.

“The problem, however, is that when I chanced upon the form of your master,” This time, she nodded at Venix. He twitched at the words, but did not interrupt. “The line of succession was to be broken. Gozen of the Twin Fangs, as I believe his name was, did not bind the blade to an heir. The gift that the River Throne had bequeathed to his Clan required this, if the possession was to be maintained. Thus, with his death, the overall binding was broken. As it stands, the Shōmetsu no Kiba is ownerless…and quite wild.”

Kazuma sucked in a quick breath, eyes nearly bulging out of his sockets. “I-I didn’t know it worked like that,” He breathed out in despair. “Then…I cannot use the blade?”

Shurenga shook her massive head from side to side. “As it stands, no. However…,” She continued, before Kazuma’s anguish could overwhelm him. “I did anticipate the arrival of a representative of your Clan, even if it took…much longer than anticipated. It is within my power to…facilitate a new binding of the blade. Otherwise, you would be erased simply coming near the Shōmetsu no Kiba.”

Hmm…

That sounded to me…like it didn’t necessarily have to be Kazuma that the blade could be bound to. Anyone could seek Shurenga’s approval and try to win her favor for it. And with that, they would gain a weapon that had apparently been capable of matching Calamity's back during the War in Heaven.

I could personally attest to how strong the blade would have to be, to manage that.

I exchanged a quick glance with Bella and Liora, both of them standing near me. Liora shrugged one shoulder minutely at me, as always uncaring about temptations. She was a very solid person, in that manner. But Bella…well, I won’t pretend she didn’t have a calculating glint in her eye. As a pirate, my lover had a certain degree of…moral flexitude, when it came to the concept of ownership.

And…

I won’t pretend the thought hadn’t ran through my minds as well. I’d crossed some lines in the past myself. Vereden had hardened me in some regards, and if it could help protect me and mine from the ravages of this world…

Well, I could be a little flexible myself.

Still, I gave Bella a slight shake of my head. She didn’t seem that disappointed, thankfully. It had just been a fleeting idea, in the end. The captain of the Thorny Reef bent back down to play with the much more interesting cubs once again.

I didn’t really need some super-weapon like the Shōmetsu no Kiba. I was getting along just fine with my own developments, both Statusial and in regards to my Profession. There were certain…projects I had yet to give up on that were showing promise, if only in the theoretical sense.

Besides, my core ring pointed out that it would essentially be spitting in the face of Venix, to try and claim the sword ourselves. He didn’t deserve that from us.

Meanwhile, I couldn’t help but notice the knowing, amused glance that Shurenga flickered our way at the byplay. She knew that her unstated message had been heard, and summarily rejected. Venix saw as well, no doubt having noticed ou little back and forth. He turned to briefly glower our way, before ignoring us in favor of the unfolding drama.

Honestly, I don’t think Renauld, Azarus, or even Kazuma himself noticed. The Gnoll and the Dwarf because they were oblivious to intrigue at the best of times, and the samurai…

Well, he had started vibrating in place at the offer from the ancient pseudo-Spirit.

Kazuma bowed sharply in her direction. “Please help me rebind the blade, Laday Shurenga!” He nearly shouted, voice echoing off the stone of the caldera.

“Hmm,” Shurenga rose to her feet to pad over to Kazuma, lowering her head to sniff delicately at him. The samurai didn’t budge from his bent posture, as the inhales from nostrils twice as large as his head roughed short black hair. After a moment, Shurenga raised her head. “Well, I can be convinced. Come with me, young samurai, and we shall…negotiate the release of the blade. Sena, Gin,” She said, turning her face to the other two cats. They sat up in attention at the word's direction their way. “Do show the others to the ‘guest room’. I have…another offer to convey later, and this shall take some time.”

At that, Shurenga turned her head ever so slightly to fix me with a single golden eye.

I merely rose my own in response, to the twinkling amusement in that huge orb.

As Shurenga turned about and began to stalk about into her den with Kazuma following close behind, Sena and Gin approached us on padded feet.

“Please,” Sena said, with a flick of her ear. “Follow us. We do not often have guests, but we do have a space you can rest the night in, while our Lady binds the blade.”

That was acceptable to us, and as a group, we followed the two cats into the cave. In the distance, Kazuma and Shurenga were disappearing into the dull glow at the heart of the volcano. I noticed, though, that Venix was still watching them. I couldn't parse the expression on his chitinous face.

I was startled out of my own observations when I felt a furry arm throw itself over my shoulder. I turned my head to see that the owner was Renauld, grinning at me playfully with a mouth full of sharp teeth. “Man, Nate. You take us to the most interesting places, don’tcha?”

I rolled my eyes at him, but didn’t respond.

I knew he was right.

<<Chapter 249 | Table of Contents | Chapter 251>>

Chapter 249 - Crimson Caldera

I was no longer enjoying the heat. As we got closer and closer to the looming form of Mt. Umetsuji, I discovered a flaw in the enchantment I’d weaved onto my cloak. During the Meld, I’d misjudged one of the patterns to the extent that the temperature control was no longer working. The result was that it died completely, and I had to remove the cloak altogether or risk drowning in my own sweat.

Thank God it hadn’t died out in the jungle. As it was, I was now suffering with the rest of my companions through the rising dry heat of the stony plains we were tromping across.

The ambient temperature grew more and more as we approached Kazuma and Venix’s little diversion, and that wasn’t the only thing.

So had sightings of the Children of Shurenga.

I’d thought we left the cats behind when we exited the jungle, and for a time I’d been right about that. The watching eyes had abruptly disappeared after we had initially ventured out into these Oni-infested wastes. But the closer we came to the volcano, they crept back into our lives. In far greater frequency than they’d appeared in the jungle itself, even. I was starting to think it hadn’t been the jungle that was their territory.

Their appearance increased to the extent that we caught our first full glimpse of one of the enormous cats. It wasn’t for lack of hiding spots that they showed themselves to us. There were plenty of them dotted all across this stretch of the island, between the ravines and enormous boulders strewn about.

They just didn’t care anymore.

The first time our group saw one of their adults sunning themselves, casually stretched out on a large elevated boulder, we stopped to stare at it. The feline itself stared back with too-intelligent amber eyes, and flicked its tail at us in dismissive contempt.

Both of them, in fact.

The Shurengan was huge, easily the size of even the biggest draught horse I’d seen on the mainland. At first glance, I wanted to equate the creature to the tigers that existed back on Earth, but that comparison wasn’t quite right. Its coat was a bright, bloody, crimson red for one, even if it had the same black stripes that ran up and down its bulky form, from the tip of its snout to the end of both of its two tails. The overall shape of its head didn’t resemble that of a tiger, either. It was too…primeval, I suppose, long, wide, and monstrously powerful. From the top of that feral jaw jutted two fangs, greater in length than my own arms from the elbow down. Casually, with a nearly smug air, the great cat opened its mouth in a yawn to display the full width of its jaw.

I could feel that rumble that escaped the chest of the Shurengan even at this distance. Something primal in me from the days of humanity's infancy quailed at the sound, but both my rings kept their composure.

I had no doubt the beast could fit my entire head in that cavernous orifice, and pop it as easily as I could a grape.

I stared up at it warily with the rest of my companions at my side. Even though the creature had yet to make a single hostile move toward us, I was still careful to keep an eye on it as I turned my head slightly in Venix’s direction. He was the only one of us that had previous experience with Goryuen, after all.

“Is that…?” I asked him, wary about using Observe on the great beast.

I mean, what if it felt the Skill and took offense? Stranger things had happened.

Venix nodded a faint frown on his lips. “It is. And yet, I have never seen one of the Children of Shurenga display itself so prominently.”

“Did ye…ever come this way, back durin’ the old fight with the dragon?” Bella asked slowly, as the Shurengan closed its mouth and laid its gigantic head on equally large paws.

Venix shook his head. “We…did not,” He said. “It occurs to me that our forces deliberately did not venture near this caldera.”

“Coulda been fer a good reason,” Azarus said, casting a wary eye out at the wastes around us. Despite the rising heat, I noticed goosebumps rise on his bare arms, visible even through the red hair that covered them. He shivered faintly and rubbed vigorously at them with leather-clad hands.

I didn’t blame him for the caution. My neck itched suddenly, and it felt like a thousand eyes were suddenly studying me.

It occurred to me then, that if this Shurengan was deliberately showing itself to us…

Just how many weren’t?

Paranoid glances were exchanged, as a new mood overtook the group.

Thankfully, at least one of us kept our head.

Liora had remained cool in the face of the enormous cat and didn’t bother to join us as we cast furtive eyes at the plain. Instead, she just kept examining the sunning beast. “Fret not,” She said, catching our attention. “This is a message, yes. But not one of unwelcome. The Children of Shurenga…they are merely letting us know who this land belongs to.”

One crimson-furred ear up on the rock twitched at those words, and a single eye opened to stare down at the Gnoll woman. I don’t think I was alone in being able to read the faint amusement visible in that amber orb.

“Yes,” Liora nodded decisively, before deliberately bowing at the waist to the cat. “We have leave to approach the mount. As long as we are respectful.”

I couldn’t help but notice that Liora was careful not to bow either too deep or too shallow to the Shurengan. In much the same way you would among Kawamaran society.

Liora had picked up on those same social cues I had, after all, during our stay in Hinaga.

As if it had gotten exactly the reaction it was after, the crimson and black-furred beast rose up to all fours to cast a shadow down over our group. With one last calculating glance at us, it turned its back and hopped down from the boulder, disappearing from sight.

Even when we resumed our trek and passed the stone, I caught no trace of the smug creature.

It was like it had vanished into thin air.

………………………………..

As Mt. Umetsuji loomed larger overhead, that was far from the last of the Children of Shurenga we encountered. Now that we had been sufficiently warned by one of their elders, it seems the cats no longer cared about hiding from us. More than once, we saw Shurengans prowling or playing in the plains about us. We caught some remarkably human startled looks from the cats at the sight of us, but none of them reacted with aggression.

Well, mostly.

I caught a dirty look from one huge matriarch in particular as it watched over a group of frolicking, incredibly adorable cubs. I’m thinking this must have been the watcher who had nearly eaten my face, back in the jungle. I shrugged apologetically at the mother.

She just rolled her eyes at me in disgust and got back to her brooding.

But, in the end, Azarus had been correct about how long it would take to reach the volcano. It took us a day and a half to reach the foot of his ‘squat beast’, and I think we were all a bit unsurprised at what we found.

There, in the shadow cast by both the ash and the bulk of the mountain itself…

Stood a massive, cavernous entrance that led further in. It was easily the second largest cave I had ever seen, tall and wide enough that I think Rhazal himself could have walked through it.

Well, if the bastard had ducked, at least.

Only the seaside cavern that Marrowmist had resided in was comparable.

Flanking either side of the stony doorway were two adult Shurengans. Both of them were sitting on their haunches, straight-backed and proud atop what appeared to be dais carved straight from the basalt of the volcano. I couldn’t help but notice that reliefs of blazing suns were prominent on the plinths. One of the cats, I think, was the one who had exposed itself to us out on the plains. The other looked to be even older than he was, with a bit of aged white fur visible around its muzzle. This one had even broader shoulders than the other obvious guardian, and fixed us with wise golden eyes as we came to a halt before the volcano.

I should have expected what happened next—I really, really should have. It was in line with my experiences with old Mystic Beats.

The elder of the two Shurengans opened its jaw, and from in between its razor sharp fangs echoed out a feminine voice.

“Be welcome, travelers,” The Shurengan called out to us in a proud, stately tone. “You are expected.”

Out of our entire group, I think only Venix and I weren’t visibly startled by the cat who had suddenly spoken to us. Myself, I had experience with massive animals suddenly talking like men and women. For Venix, though, I had no idea. Not much fazed him, really.

At our reaction, the other saber-tooth laughed at us, a much younger male voice coming from him. “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?”

I restrained the urge to groan, but his little pun did the job he was after. The tension deflated, and his fellow guardian shot the jokester a dirty look. Still, the both of them hopped down and padded their way over to us. Even on all fours, these massive creatures stood taller than I was. Hell, the tallest person among us was Venix, and he was just barely at eye level with the smaller male.

As they came to a halt in front of us, I spoke first. “We’re expected, are we?”

The female’s eyes flicked my way, as she gave me an appraising look. Still, she nodded. “You are,” She acknowledged. “I am Sena, and this is Gin. We are the guardians of this sacred place, the meeting point between sun and earth.”

I blinked at that, briefly cutting a look over at Kazuma. The samurai was no help, though. He still seemed stunned to be meeting a pair of talking tigers. “I…had no idea Mt. Umetsuji was important,” I started before I stopped in my tracks. A thought had occurred. “Wait. Sun and earth? Are you talking about…the Spirits of sun and earth?”

The male, apparently named Gin, thumped onto his haunches. “Sure are,” He said easily. “All of the Great Spirits have naturally occurring meeting points, out in the real world. It’s easier for them that way to get together for a good old-fashioned, private chat. Nobody is going to eavesdrop on them here in the physical like they would in the Concord. This just happens to be where Greatfather Tarus and Greatuncle Orus hung out, in ages past.”

Renauld’s brows furrowed as he watched the two Mystic Beasts warily. “You’re being mighty free with information there, friend. Actual, concrete lore about Great Spirits doesn’t exactly grow on trees, and I should know. I’ve been in the deep archives of the Academy of Mystic Arts. I’ve never heard anything about ‘meeting points’.”

That…was a good point. Most of what I knew about the Great Spirits came either from first-hand experience or had been filtered through the lens of religion in Hinaga. I would think that if these places existed, they would have been pilgrimage points for the people of Kawamara.

But what caught my attention the most, was how Gin had referred to Tarus.

Greatfather.

I knew of another type of Mystic Beast that referred to one of the Great Spirits as if they were direct family members…

I glanced quickly over at the sun carving on the abandoned dais’s, before meeting Sena’s eyes. There was a knowing, prompting look in those golden orbs.

“Who…,” I started slowly. “is Shurenga?”

“You already know, Nathaniel Hart,” A new voice echoed out of the cave that we stood before. This one was also female, but very obviously different.

Stronger, for one. Older, for another.

But there was a sense of power in the tone that sent a shiver down my spine. A quality echoed within it that reminded me of the soul-speak that both the Great Spirits and Razhal had spoken with, back in the Concord. I knew, without even seeing the owner, that they were strong. Stronger than Grey. Stronger than Honoka or even Tlazo.

This was a true titan of the old world.

Massive, thumping paw steps echoed out of the cave after the voice, as its owner slowly padded out of the darkness. Sena and Gin half-bowed in the odd way of a quadruped and parted to allow the speaker into the light.

Almost as one, I and my companions drew in a breath at the sight of them. Half in apprehension, and half, I believe, in fear.

As they came to a halt, they gazed down at us in amusement with slitted golden eyes. “After all, I’m told you are no fool.”

<<Chapter 248 | Table of Contents | Chapter 250>>

Chapter 248 - War-Rager

Well, everyone charged but Renauld, Kazuma, and Bella that is. As the Healer, Renauld stayed behind to watch our backs. Bella, too, because she was part of the team meant to watch him. I knew she would be cranky from missing out on the fight, but she was surprisingly good at squad-based teamwork. Probably came from being a ship's Captain. Out of the corner of my eye, I was grateful to see that Kazuma had the good sense to stay with our Healer and look after him. His katana was drawn and held in a ready stance, as he stood protectively in front of the Gnoll. Bella as well, cutlass held at the ready in case the Oni got past us.

But that was the last thing I saw before battle was joined.

Venix and Azarus led the charge as the veritable tip of our spear. All four of the Antium samurai’s blades now glowed a cool blue, trailing frost in the air as he lashed out at the Oni towering above us. Azarus hadn’t attached his hammer and shield to the four lengths of chains that sprouted from his armored back, as he was sometimes wont to do. Instead, they hooked onto four separate daggers sheathed at his mid-back, which rose up to glint in the dim light like the fangs of the proverbial serpent behind him. This was a new strategy for the Dwarf, and something that he had dreamt up over the last few months. All four of the chain spears whipped out at the Prime as Azarus banged hammer against shield mockingly.

The Oni dodged backward fast enough to evade Azarus’s daggers, but not Venix’s hoary blades. This one was strong, yes.

But not anywhere near the level of Venix.

Still, the Oni only lost two fingers on its right hand from the blisteringly fast swipes. It staggered back briefly, howling in pain as thick black blood sprayed into the air, but still had the senses to strike back with a kick aimed at the Antium. Venix skipped out of the way, but the foot was so large that Azarus had to raise his shield to block the blow. It impacted the enchanted, hand-forged steel of the kite, ringing like a gong. The dwarven blacksmith was driven back several feet from the force of the strike, but he retained his footing thanks to his chain-spears anchoring him in place, buried deep in the stone. Still, the Oni had accomplished his goal. Both of the frontline fighters had been driven back, if only momentarily. But it had also been driven back.

Straight into Liora and I.

While Azarus and Venix had captured the Oni’s attention from the front, us former Nocturne Agents had circled behind it. And when that foot came reeling back after being rebuffed by Azarus’s shield, we struck. Simultaneously, we burst forward and dug into the Achilles tendons at the back of the Prime’s ankles. Liora at the left one, and I at the right. This was a tactic that the Oni Hunters had taught me to great effect during the hunt I’d been on. I suppose they’d shown it to her as well.

Her claws, trailing black smoke, crunched through the thick hide of the Oni to find the tendon within. Using both hands, she outright ripped a portion of it out to dangle from her fist, oozing blood darker than pitch.

I was comparatively much more methodical. My daggers simply cut through the hide of the beast, instantly severing the tendon. I still got sprayed with disgusting black blood, though, causing me to grimace.

The reaction from the Oni was immediate.

Its legs folded from underneath it, and it dropped its knees, howling even louder in pain. But even that wasn’t enough to rid the monster of all its senses. These things were cannier than most gave them credit for.

The Oni’s entire body glowed bright blue for a moment, and then a shockwave of electric blue static exploded from the surface of its skin. I had already skipped back after my attack was successful, so I managed to completely dodge the attack, whatever it was.

But Liora was a hair too slow.

She had tried to leap back at the first hint of glow from the Oni, but for the first time since I’d known her, her speed wasn't enough to save her. From what I could see, the rapidly expanding field of static just barely managed to graze her foot.

The reaction was immediate.

The Gnollish former assassin immediately went limp and wasn’t able to react in time to prevent what happened next. The Oni swiped at her falling form before she could hit the ground, and grabbed her.

Its enormous azure hand closed over her whole body, and it brought Liora’s immobilized form up to face level. Azarus and Venix immediately stopped in their tracks, unwilling to strike out at the Oni while it was using one of our friends to protect itself. It almost seemed like the monster was using her as a shield. The two of them tried to circle around the kneeling monster, only for it shuffle in the stone of the plain to keep them in view. It swiped at Venix, only for the Antium to parry the obsidian claws in a shower of sparks.

When Azarus’s chain spears threatened to strike out at the Oni, darting back and forth while the Dwarf himself stood ready with shield and hammer raised, the monster raised Liora higher. In a clear threatening manner, it opened its mouth of black fangs to drool over the still immobilized hand-to-hand specialist.

While this was happening, I was getting into position. I’d thrown Thorn Cloak up once the Oni’s attention had fallen away from me, causing me to fade into the background, if only slightly. But that was enough in the heat of battle for me to maneuver around to the Oni’s right side unseen. I’d been waiting for the right moment to strike, but it looked like I had to just take the risk now.

Perfect was the enemy of good enough, and perfect would get my friend’s head bitten off.

Vis Maledicta Exactoris.

Under the effect of Thorn Cloak, my body ballooned into its monstrous state. The enhanced strength and speed of the transformation combined with the still active Might of the Wyrdwood, compounding on each other.

I crouched, activated The Scintillant Blade on my daggers once more, and exploded upwards in a leap.

Blades poised directly at the arm still holding Liora.

My brilliantly burning daggers, combined with the strength and speed of my ascension, sheared right through the tough skin of the Oni. The arm was sliced in half right through the humerus, and the Oni reared back and howled in agony. The severed limb flopped down onto the stone below, the hand twitching open enough for Liora to groggily roll away from it. All this I saw from above as, at the apex of my leap, I snapped open my wings to slow my descent.

Azarus and Venix hadn’t wasted their chance.

The dwarven smith’s chain daggers speared forwards to immobilize the wounded Oni, two in opposing shoulders, two in opposing hips. As it was held in place, Venix crouched, and his chitinous body glowed a faint, ominous crimson. His robe waved in a wind I could not feel, causing the cranes upon it to almost appear as if they were in flight.

I only saw his foot twitch once before he disappeared from sight. But I sure saw the results.

The howling of the Oni immediately ceased as its head was separated from its shoulders. It tumbled through the air, high enough that it was briefly at eye level with my slowly descending form. I swear that our eyes briefly met as it died, emerald on gold.

To my consternation, it chose that exact moment to explode into a cloud of Miasma. I coughed with monstrous lungs as I fell through an unexpected cloud of foulness, as the main body dissipated on the ground.

By the time my feet touched the ground, I saw that Renauld and Bella had already hurried over to the still-dazed form of Liora and were inspecting her. Honestly, I think Bella was more fretting than inspecting, from how she was hovering over our friend. It looked like the claws of the Oni might have grazed her, cutting through her armor to leave small gashes on her arms. I wasn’t worried about her, though. Renauld knew his craft.

Instead, I was watching Kazuma. I hadn’t dispelled my transformation yet, and I’m guessing he hadn’t been expecting it. The man had frozen at the sight of me, his black eyes bulging in their sockets as they beheld my scaled, chiropteran features. I noticed that he had yet to release his white-knuckled grip on his sword, still held at the ready.

I snorted, released my grip on The Scintillant Blade, and sheathed my twin blades at the small of my back. “What’s the matter?” I called out to him in my altered, warbling voice. “Never seen a transformation Skill before?”

Kazuma’s blade lowered, and he looked at me in pure disbelief. “Hart?”

In lieu of answering, I dispelled the rest of my active Skills. In seconds, I had returned to my…relatively normal human state. Turning away from him, I looked over just in time to see Azarus bend down and pick up a real monster of a Core. I whistled at the sight of it. The pure white orb had to be the size of my fist, and I’m not talking about my current one. It shone faintly in the Dwarf’s open palm as he inspected. I wandered over to them as Azarus turned to Venix and offered it to the Antium. “Yer kill, yer Core,” He said shortly.

Venix shook his head. “I have no use for it. It is too low level for my own crafts. You may have the Core.”

“If ya say so,” Azarus shrugged, reaching around him for his pack and dropping said Core inside. “Ain’t gonna turn down free materials.”

As I joined them, I returned their greeting nods. “I’m guessing we’re right in the middle of Oni territory by now.”

“Just so,” Venix answered, as Kazuma warily joined us, eyeing me suspiciously. I paid him no mind. “Random dens such as that are common across the island, now that we’re out of the jungle. That was not quite an elder, but it was certainly no juvenile. Possibly a challenger who was driven out of the deeper reaches to bide his time for a return.”

Our conversation was interrupted by Kazuma speaking up. “Who…are you people?” He said, half in astonishment, half in suspicion. “I’ve never seen an adult Oni dispatched so quickly. Even dedicated teams struggle to recover from such an ambush.”

I couldn’t help a smirk from crawling over my face, as Renauld and the girls joined us as well. “Guess we’re a cut above the rest,” I said, before meeting Liora’s eyes. “You alright? Good to go?”

Liora briefly bowed her furry head. “Yes. Apologies for the misstep. I misjudged the beast’s speed.”

I shrugged, but it was Bella who spoke. “It’s alright. We all make mistakes,” She said with a smile at the Gnoll, before directing a glare towards the rest of us. “Don’t we?”

I nodded along with the others under her glare. Sure, sure.

The way you stick up for your friend is cute, Bella. I didn’t say that out loud, though.

I didn’t need another bruise from her.

Instead, I addressed the group. “No reason to stick around. Let’s go, people.” At the round of answering nods, we moved away from the impromptu battle site, hopping across the ravine the Oni had apparently lived in. Once we were on the other side, I noticed someone was missing. Looking back across to the other side, I saw that Kazuma was still watching us with a queer look on his face.

“You coming?” I called across to him.

My words appeared to knock him out of his daze, and he nodded at us. “Yes!” He returned, hurrying and joining us on the other side. Fully regrouped, we set back out for Mt. Umetsuji once more. The volcano had been growing on the horizon for some time now, and the plumes of ash that wisped from the caldera were ever more visible to us.

Honestly, I welcomed it. It was colder out here on the plains than it had been in the jungle, and the closer we got to the volcano, the warmer it had been getting.

I was almost looking forward to investigating the ‘squat beast’, as Azarus had termed it.

<<Chapter 247 | Table of Contents | Chapter 249>>

Chapter 247 - Stumbling Forward

I exchanged a quick glance with Venix, and that was all I needed to know.

He was determined to retrieve this sword. Even though the only reason to do that would be so Kazuma could essentially kill himself with it.

I suppressed a sigh. I’d suspected this was going to happen. It was only a matter of time before this guy was going to ask us to help him retrieve the sword. I’d had a vain hope that he would wait until he linked back up with the Solstice’s Flame guys to ask them to chase this thing down.

But no.

Us.

Still, this wasn’t unexpected. I’d been communicating covertly with Liora on our rangings about the possibility, and she’d been ferrying messages back to the others about our thoughts, beneath Kazuma's attention. Most of the others didn’t really care where we went here on the island. They were here for me, the levels, and the adventure. As long as we accomplished our goals in time to be picked back up by the Kaminari Maru, it didn’t matter to them.

Except for Venix. He…really wanted to retrieve this sword.

I’d thought about arguing with him about it before deciding there was no use. The Antium was going to do what he wanted to, and I suppose we owed it to him to assist. He’d helped us enough in the past, either on the mainland, in Kawamara, or even on the island that he deserved it.

We could spare the time. There were three more weeks left until the Kaminari Maru returned, likely with the Kawamaran navy in tow. From what I understood, Goryuen was only about three days away into the heart of the range.

If Venix wanted to honor his old master in this way, we could make time for him.

I nodded slightly at the Antium samurai and turned to face the other one. “Alright,” I said easily, in sharp contrast to my previous tone to him. “Let’s get going then.”

The others untensed now that the pseudo-confrontation was over. As I raised the far-eye to look out at this volcano, I heard Liora and Azarus start chattering again, Renauld start whistling to himself, and the sputters of Kazuma. “That’s it?!”

“Yup,” I said idly, examining the distant mountain.

Hmm.

Interesting, interesting.

I knew exactly nothing about volcanoes.

I lowered the far-eye and turned to my only possible source, interrupting his conversation with Liora. “Azarus, take a look and tell me about this place, will you?”

He shrugged and nodded, accepting the far-eye. My dwarven friend inspected the distant volcano for a moment thoughtfully, while Kazuma continued his bafflement.

“I can tell you about-” He tried to say.

Azarus cut him off. “Looks like an old beast to me,” He said. “Low, squat. Much older than the rest of this baby fresh range. Seems ta be spewin’ more ash and smoke than anythin’ else. Probably doesn’t erupt often, if much at all, and what it does have is heavy, thick, and slow. I ain’t felt any rumblin’s, and I would have if it were more active,” He studied it for another second. “Iron-rich I’d say.”

I blinked at the much more in depth explanation than I was expecting. After a moment, I turned to Kazuma with a raised eyebrow. “That right?”

He looked away. “Just about,” Kazuma grumbled before regaining his composure. “Mt. Umetsuji is where we believe Jiro was speaking of, as he lay dying.”

I nodded easily. “Where ‘silence burns’ and all that jazz, yeah, I remember,” I said, recalling the words he had reluctantly told Venix the other day upon his request. I shrugged, adjusting the pack there at the same time. “Well, enough talking about it. The volcano is…probably a day or so away…?” I trailed off, looking at Azarus.

He nodded, collapsing the far-eye and handing it back to Bella. “Just about. Maybe day and a half of hikin’.”

“Let’s get going then.”

At that, we stopped admiring the scenery and got underway.

No reason to dawdle.

It’s not like we were on a time limit or anything.

…………………………………………….

The span between the actual mountains of Goryuen and the jungle was barren as hell, with next to no cover on it. It was almost desert-like, really, only far more rocky than I expected it to be. The footing was treacherous and likely to slip away under you at any point. And there were plenty of points out on this plain. I swear, this place felt like nothing more than a sea of razor-sharp stone fragments most of the time.

Thankfully, we were all wearing strong enough footwear for our lower halves not to be torn to shreds.

Unfortunately, we were so exposed out there, it was only a matter of time until we ran into the masters of this land.

The Oni.

With sight lines being so clear, we had thought there was no need to continue scouting ahead in search of monsters that could be hiding around every tree.

That was a mistake. We hadn’t counted on the ravines.

Our group nearly bumbled right into them.

“Stop!” Venix said sharply, from the front of our formation. We all froze suddenly at his command, standing perfectly still. “Chasm below us.”

Some of us breathed out in relief at that, myself among them. We all untensed and wandered up to join Venix. I don’t know about the others, but I was curious about what had stopped us. As I joined him at the front, I noticed that Venix was still oddly tense. I shook it off and looked down.

The sight nearly gave me vertigo, which was a first. I hadn’t experienced that since I’d got my Status.

From one inch to the next, the ground appeared to end right in front of us. It was as if an enormous dagger had been thrust into the stone of Vereden, opening up a blade-shaped ravine in the span. It yawned before us, and none of the weak, obscured light of Tarus above could penetrate into the darkness below our feet. Random spikes of stone dotted the walls of the ravine, jutting off into every which way. The stony spears almost seemed like teeth that dotted an impossibly large mouth, ready to grind through whatever was incautious enough not to watch their footing.

Oddly, I could see that a number of them looked to have been snapped off, leaving only shattered stumps in the walls.

As I was standing at the edge of the ravine and looking down, I heard Renauld shift in place to my right. At his movement, a large, flat slate of stone at his feet came loose and tumbled off the edge and into the abyss below. We all watched silently as the shale tumbled end over end and then struck one of the spires below, the both of them shattering at the impact. The tinkling of rock fragments filled our ears as they scattered their way down into the abyss.

I shook off the odd mood the sight had instilled in me, and looked up and down the surface of the chasm, judging the length and width of it. I nodded and then glanced at my companions. “We can probably ju-”

I didn’t get the chance to finish my words.

Far, far below me, a deep, furious roar echoed out of the canyon we stood above. Crashing noises, growing ever closer, reached us in the wake of it. Somewhere deep in the shadow below our feet, I thought I could just barely see the glow of yellow eyes ascending the dark, larger than dinner plates.

I sucked in a sharp breath, rapidly retreating from the edge. “Back! Back! On-”

I didn’t get the chance to say another word. With a thunderous crash of splintering stone, a massive blue palm punched its way out of the spikes and fell upon the lip of the ravine. The sharp, obsidian-shaded claws dug into the rock of the plain, crushing it into a suitable handhold. A matching fist swung up and over the ledge, and the owner pulled itself up and out of the chasm we had nearly stumbled into.

In the dim light of the day, I could see the beast as it stretched itself to its full height and roared into the sky above. I grit my teeth as the sound rolled over me, strong enough to pop my ears from the sheer pressure of it.

That was an Oni, all right.

Blue skin thicker than leather was stretched taut over a heavily, obscenely, thick muscled humanoid body. Angry, throbbing veins stood out prominently on its massive body, pulsing in time with its heartbeat. Thankfully sexless, it wore nothing on its imitation of the human form and carried no weapons.

This thing had to be over thirty feet tall, at a minimum.

The shadow it cast over our surprised group was long and deep, and its head was thrown back from its defiant roar. The boulder-sized body part shrouded the already weak light of Tarus above, but I could still see its long, wispy white hair drifting in the faint wind on this stony plain. It was only as the monster hunched back over that I could see the features of the Oni in full detail.

The hate in its golden eyes was familiar to me as they fell on our group. As were the four curved pitch-black ox horns that stood out on the prominent brow of the beast, stretching towards the heavens. Two more grew downward from its cheeks, thrusting straight from the bone to curl around its mouth. Sharp fangs were visible in the snarling orifice, dripping with hungry drool and sliding down its chin, as black as the horns.

It wanted to eat us so, so badly. Its hunger was palpable in the air.

I threw out an Observe, even though I already suspected what it would say.

Name: Thunderous Oni War-Rager

Level: ???

Age: 41 years

Species: Monster (Prime)

Abilities: ???, ???, ???, ???

A full adult Prime. I’d already known that it was one, just by the number of horns on its hideous head. Juveniles that had yet to reach Prime status only had the two cheekbone horns, while newly ascended ones had those and two more on the skull. A fully mature, adult Prime had the full complement like this fellow. My brief hunt with an Oni Hunter squad had taught me that.

Just our luck to stumble on one, out in this plain. I suppose it was inevitable here on this island. I was only surprised we hadn’t encountered an Oni before now.

At the sight of the rabid, slavering creature, weapons flew from sheathes all around me as we rapidly prepared for the inevitable battle. I drew my daggers and did not extend them, but did surround their Oninite blades with the glowing aurora of The Scintillant Blade. Might of the Wyrdwood was deployed at the same time at fifteen percent, and in moments the ethereal vines of the Skill had covered my body. But I didn’t deploy my transformation Skill.

Not yet.

Venix stepped forward as the Oni crouched there in front of us, all four of his blades drawn and clenched in his chitinous fists. It was utterly still in the face of the blatant challenge, studying us for a moment with eyes that were too intelligent for my liking. I swear, I swear, that I saw its lips curl slightly into a smile.

Before it acted.

The only hint I received that things were about to start was a slight crackle of electricity that ran up and around its thickly muscled limbs.

I, and all of my companions, knew what that meant. We’d all seen this before, at one time or another.

Apparently, even Kazuma did.

We all dived out of the way from where we stood, and just in the nick of time.

From the Oni’s still open mouth blasted a sharp spear of lightning, bright blue and hotter than the surface of the sun. It moved too quickly for me to even track as it impacted the stone where we had all stood only moments before, shattering the stone of the plain and sending molten rock flying through the air. I grimaced from where I had dodged as some of it landed to sizzle on the surface of my cloak. I wouldn’t have been able to dodge that if I hadn’t known it was coming. The speed was just too great.

That was just the opening blow.

The Oni stood up to its full height once again and pounded its chest with both fists, roaring into the sky as it did so as if it were the primeval ape. More lightning sparked up and down its body.

But the time for posturing was over. We couldn’t let this thing dictate the course of the coming battle, and all of us knew that.

We set our weapons and charged.

<<Interlude 13 | Table of Contents | Chapter 248>>

Interlude 13 - Inscrutable

Kazuma of Clan Higanashi, de facto Lord of his clan….

Found himself feeling terribly conflicted.

So much was happening all at once that he was having trouble settling on a single emotion.

There was the betrayal, of course. The campaign that the foreign exiled Sect had scouted him for had been months in the planning, with him involved every step of the way. Grandmaster Shacklock himself had sought him out, the infamous madman finding him slumped over a bar all those months ago in Nagizawa. He had been on the verge of weeping from the failure of his latest venture, when the thump of a cane had cut through the noise of the bar.

Insane, ambitious whispers in his ear had given him a hope that was now dashed.

There was the expected anger, from multiple different sources. Not only that Captain Wernstrom, who had been nothing but courteous to him, had dared to stab him in the back. But also that a figure that his family had presumed to have died out on this accursed isle was still among the living.

The ant man, Venix.

The name had been among the roster of students his great-grandfather was said to have trailing in his wake. Not much was said about him in the records, and certainly not his race. The only thing of note in the scrolls was that he took after the Twin Fang himself, in choosing to bear multiple blades at once.

He hadn’t expected that to mean four over the damn things.

By his own admission, the insect was at least partially responsible for the death of his great ancestor. There had been a palpable guilt in the shoulders of the bug when he had spoken of his master.

Not much was actually known of how Gozen had died. Not even Jiro of the Flickering Storm had been able to tell them, much less the historical remnants of the latest Ryumetsu Matsuri. The way his grandfather had spoken, Spirits rest his soul, the man had been half delirious when he stumbled into the then clan compound. He’d picked up some form of deadly jungle infection that haunted his grievous wounds, and no amount of Healing had been able to save him. The only words the man had been to utter before he passed was that the blade still existed, in a…cryptic way. The infection had taken his mind by that point.

As his grandfather had told him, the exact words Jiro had said before dying were,

“It never fell…the fang never fell. Eyes in the dark…flame that stalks…it took it. Lost not lost but still there. She waits…where silence burns…”

Suitably cryptic, to the apparent dismay of his Clan. But his father had spent decades of his life trying to decrypt the dying words of a delirious man, and had shared what he’d found with Kazuma. It hadn’t been much.

But it was enough to convince both Kazuma and Grandmaster Shacklock.

Kazuma wanted to demand answers from the Ant man. Maybe he possessed a crucial clue that would help to fit all the pieces together, and from there he could save his family from the proverbial gutters.

His pride sealed his lips, though, and thus he hadn’t so much as looked in the cur’s direction. But over the last few days, he had certainly felt Venix’s eyes on him.

Because the group of strange partisans who insisted they were not members of the Order of the Eclipsed Dawn had invited him to travel with them. Since he no longer had any comrades of his own in these savage wilds, he had of course accepted.

And so he’d been accompanying these odd people for two days now.

They were the cause of the third emotion that was unsettling him.

Confusion.

What an…eclectic group they were.

Firstly was the dwarf. Kazuma could count on one hand the number of times he had personally met one of his people. Nagizawa, the city his Clan had settled down in after their exile from the capital, was a port city. It mainly dealt in fish, though, and not expensive goods. That meant that Dwarven merchants were somewhat uncommon on the docks of the stinking city. The Velancians had their own fishing sources, and most seldom had need of what Kawamara could sell to them in that regard.

However, this Azarus was unlike any Dwarf he had met. He spoke and acted differently, simultaneously both with wisdom and blunt disregard. Kazuma’s studies from years past told him that the accent that colored the crimson-haired dwarf’s words placed him from the distant mountain holds, and yet he was clearly educated. Strong in the arm, too, from how he had dispatched a group of Wyrmkin his new group had encountered.

A contradiction.

The Gnolls were a puzzle in and of themselves. They were so different from each other. These were actually the first of their kind Kazuma had ever met before. The Throng was currently barred from venturing onto the shores of Kawamara, due to some courtly faux pas from when he was a child. As a result, you didn’t normally see Gnolls in the Land of Twinning Rivers. These two both were and were not what he had expected from their kind.

The female was almost what the tales told of these strangers of Vereden. She was elusive, rarely interacting with the group in favor of serving as a scout. She spoke little, and what she did say was in a quiet, shifty tone to his ears. He had yet to have the chance to speak to her, and it almost seemed like she was deliberately avoiding him.

Of course, the male was a Healer and had saved his life. Kazuma had pledged to guard him on this treacherous island, and taken up one of the guard positions in the center of the formation. This Renauld was…fairly easygoing, from his conversations with him. Kazuma understood that he was a student at the Academy of Mystic Arts, and had gotten caught up in the Herztalian’s civil war before falling in with this group. The fox man was a tad mercurial in his moods, but friendly enough. From the tales, he hadn’t expected that from one of his kind.

Which left only the humans of this troupe.

Both of which frustrated him, if only for different reasons.

The woman, Bella, he had learned was a pirate. Upon discovering that, Kazuma had begun to deliberately shun her presence. He refused to entertain a murdering criminal, and it stung at him that he had fallen so far that he must call one of her kind a comrade. She didn’t seem to care a whit about his disapproval, only smirking at him when she thought he wasn’t looking. If not for the man stopping her, he thought she would have spent the entire journey across Goryuen mocking him.

The man…

Who actually was a human.

That had surprised him. This Nathan Hart had long, pointed ears in the manner of the savage Elves from the mainland. Kawamara had none of those long-disgraced barbarians upon her shores, and the sight of such features had initially shocked him. Upon that beach when he had first seen the man, it had been his appearance that initially made Kazuma wary of the group. Not just him, but Wernstrom and the rest of Solstice’s Flame leadership.

Nobody that journeyed with an elf, much less one that had odd patches of what looked to be blackened scales dotting his body, could be trustworthy.

But Kazuma had come to learn that the quiet man was just that. A man, and not an Elf. His strange appearance was apparently the result of some form of curse, inflicted upon him by the Calamity that had briefly risen in the city of Elderwyck, in the dying days of the Construct War. In a shocking and somewhat scandalous move, the man had even invited Kazuma to Observe him to prove the truth of his words.

Kazuma had tentatively done so, only to see that Hart was nothing more than a mere Human. Nothing strange had been visible on his Status at all.

That had relieved him, he had to admit.

However, Hart was still a mystery to him. This group almost treated him like the true leader, and not the hulking, almost certainly more powerful Antium that led the formation. They consulted him on decisions, and more often than not, followed his advice. Kazuma had also learned that their entire expedition was apparently Hart’s idea. The other man was tight-lipped about what they sought here on the island, only saying that they sought something at the base of Mt. Gorenzan. When Kazuma had pointed out that that was the most dangerous place on the isle, as the Oni hordes encircled the throne of Tatsugan himself, Hart had merely nodded. The man seemed entirely unfazed by the potential danger, when even Kazuma himself, who had quite literally chosen to give his life for his clan, was apprehensive of that treacherous range.

Kazuma had been able to discover nothing of this strange, Elf-like Human’s origins. He spoke little of himself in Kazuma’s earshot, and his companions almost appeared unfalteringly loyal to him. Kazuma only knew a few things about the mysterious man. The first was that he was a Mage, in comparison to his own path of the Cultivator. The other was that his Professions were Smithing and Enchanting.

He could, at the very least, admire the strange armor and weapons this Hart seemed to carry, apparently borne of his own two hands. Kazuma had never actually seen Oninite smithed in that manner, and certainly not in such abundance. It felt almost extravagant, truthfully. Kazuma doubted that the Emperor himself had such a complement of Oninite.

He was at least competent, though. The man seemed to realize that he didn’t need to continue guarding the Healer with Kazuma around. He also appeared to have scout training like the taciturn Gnoll woman. Hart had joined her in becoming a scout, choosing to range around their flanks to ward off dangers that may be approaching.

But he didn’t need to for long, because the jungle was coming to an end.

On the morning of the third day since Kazuma had joined this small, odd troop, the scenery began to change around them. The trees started to thin out, the sounds of the jungle began to fade, and even the insects died down.

This was a relief to everyone. Even the ant man seemed grateful the vicious, bloodthirsty things were no longer poking at his chitin.

By the time lunch had rolled around, they reached the absolute edge of the jungles of Goryuen.

The transitionary point from the outer island…

To the inner.

The group gathered to stand in a line on the delineating point, shoulder to shoulder. The two scouts had returned by now to join them.

And stare out across the peaks of the horizon.

Kazuma had heard tale of the mountains of Goryuen. How they were the youngest, most treacherous spires upon the face of Vereden. How they were unnatural to the extreme, haunted by ghosts of the endless struggle with the Immortal Wyrm. And how only the foolish would brave their depths, when not bound by duty.

It turned out…those tales were true.

They seemed endless.

Stretching far off into the horizon was a sea of blade-like peaks and treacherous valleys. The stone of the range was blackened, and their summits almost seemed to gleam blue in the light of the shrouded sun overhead. Because the light of Tarus did not seem to fully touch the entirety of the span, no. Instead, angry, roiling grey clouds shrouded the sky as far as the eye could see, and the occasional spire of lighting reached down to touch the tips of those upthrust spears. Thunder rumbled among the clouds, a muted growl that reached the group from even this distance.

And yet, no rain appeared to be falling upon the range. No floods rushed through barren corridors of stone that threaded throughout the mountains. It was bone dry, nearly desert-like within that hell.

Unlike the jungles, nothing could live in there. No water, no animals, no greenery.

Only monsters and beasts.

It was a good thing, then, that Kazuma didn’t intend to venture inside.

Yet.

He only had to convince his newfound allies of the plan. Such as it was.

Kazuma’s introspection, and the silence of the group, was broken when Hart spoke first.

“Hmm,” He uttered in a mild tone. “That doesn’t look fun.”

The lord of Clan Higanashi couldn’t help but turn a disbelieving eye upon the man.

“Fun?” Kazuma uttered under his breath disbelievingly.

His companions had a different reaction.

Renauld smirked, seemingly put at ease, where only moments before intimidation had painted his furred face. “Downright spooky, even.”

Meanwhile, the dwarf actually looked a bit impressed. “Some damn fine mountains, though,” He said, strangely admiring. “The old holds ain’t got nothin’ on this. They’re a downright cakewalk in comparison.”

“I’ve never been,” Liora said, turning an interested eye towards Azarus. “Is there truly such a difference?”

“Oh, aye,” Azarus nodded. “Y’see…” To Kazuma’s disbelief, the two of them began a conversation on comparative geology.

Meanwhile, Hart had turned to Bella, who had taken out her far-eye and was examining the range. “See anything interesting? Can I borrow that?”

Bella lowered the instrument and turned to him with a taunting smirk. “Nothin’ noteworthy, just a few beasties. Think I saw a movin’ Oni horn, but it wasn’t part of a violence. And…maybe ye can look. If ye ask nicely.”

Hart returned her smirk with one of his own. “Oh, I’ll ask nicely. Just…later.”

The two of them chuckled to themselves, to Kazuma’s confusion, before Bella handed Hart the far-eye. The odd man took it but didn’t look through yet. Instead, he turned to Venix. “So, where should we enter? Straight ahead?”

The ant opened his treacherous mouth to answer, but Kazuma had shaken off the oddity of his ally's behavior. He co-opted the conversation by clearing his throat. When a majority of eyes turned his way, Kazuma made his play.

“There is somewhere else we should go first,” He began firmly. “The central range-”

He was cut off by Hart. “Is our destination,” The pseudo-Elf said sharply. “Do not forget, Kazuma Higanashi, you are our guest. I extended an invitation to you because you might have died, alone in the jungle. But we have our own plans on this island.”

Kazuma grit his teeth and tried not to lose his temper, aware even the conversation on mountain geology had died down. “I’m aware,” He said, suppressing his temper. “But I believe I know where the Shōmetsu no Kiba can be found.”

Venix took a step forward then, attention sharpening. “Where?”

The Kawamaran samurai took a deep breath. “The dying words of Jiro of the Flickering Storm gave my Clan enough to work off of for our research. We believe it might be there,” He said, pointing off to the right side of the horizon.

Towards a curl of smoke that wafted into the sky, originating from a short, squat mountain. This one had no blade-like tip like the rest of the range, and lay outside of it as well, crouching between it and the jungle.

The party followed his finger, as Kazuma spoke again.

“The volcano of Mt. Umetsuji.”

<<Chapter 246 | Table of Contents | Chapter 247>>

Chapter 246 - Opposing Directions

The difference between them was too great for Kazuma’s blow to move Venix even a single inch, of course. The Antium took the punch without blinking straight on the chin, still staring down at the heavily breathing Kawamaran man who had assaulted him.

The rest of us weren’t so taciturn about it.

Bella, Azarus, and I stepped forward at the sudden violence. I don’t know what the others were intending, but I was going to restrain the man. Judging from the grip Bella and Azarus had on their weapons, they…might have been going for a more permanent solution.

Venix halted such notions. “Stop!” He barked our way, freezing the three of us. Still, he never looked away from seething form of the man who had struck him once and never followed up. “His anger is understandable. Young blade, am I known to you?”

Kazuma glared at the Antium, chest heaving from the effort of the strike he had delivered. “Only the name,” He said heavily. “Our records, they did not mention your race. If I had known…I would have struck you down there on the beach.”

Venix inclined his head. “You would have tried,” He acknowledged. “And failed. But this does not matter. What does is that the blade of my master, the Shōmetsu no Kiba-”

Language Adaptation helpfully informed that translated roughly to ‘Fang of Annihilation’.

Fun.

“-still exists. And so I begin to understand the Madman’s plan,” He continued, frowning at Kazuma. “He will retrieve the sword, and force you to channel the might of his Core Collapse through it. He believes it will be enough to fully erase the existence of Tatsugan.”

Kazuma didn’t let up on his glower, but he nodded. “Yes, you would understand, wouldn’t you? Cur.”

A cough broke the standoff between the two men. The both of them, and me for that matter, followed it to the source, finding Renauld standing there with his fist in front of his muzzle. “That’s all…very dramatic, sure. But, uh…what is this big bad sword, and why is it important?”

“And would it actually work?” I asked pointedly after he was done.

Venix sighed and reached up to massage his brow, agitating his antennae in the process. “Possibly,” He reluctantly admitted, to our gathered surprise. His lips quirked up in a humorless smile. “The Shōmetsu no Kiba is a mighty blade indeed. With it, you can absorb any attack, any energy directed against it, and infuse it with the very concept of ‘Erasure’. Then, once that power has been attuned, it can be unleashed upon your target. Historically, the Artefact has no upper limit to what it can harness, and was used to great effect in the War in Heaven against the Godbound.”

His eyes flickered over to me for a moment before continuing.

“It was left in the care of the Imperial family in the aftermath of the Initialization wars, and then bound to the Higanashi Clan for services rendered.” Venix crossed all four of his arms. “It became their family blade, and then passed to my master upon his elevation to Lordship of that family. And then, when he fell, it was thought destroyed by the wyrm. And because of that…”

“My family was forced into hiding by the Imperial court,” Kazuma spat, still glaring at Venix. “We lost everything! Our wealth, our influence in the court, even our home! We became little better than commoners, without a shred of honor to our name! The shame of it all drove us to the outer reaches of the Empire, where we huddled like rats in a nest of trash! So yes, when the Order of Solstice’s Flame came to me with a proposal on how to win my family’s honor back, by truly slaying the great wyrm, I took it!”

Venix was silent for a moment, simply staring at the fuming man. “And you would die in the process,” He said, soft, pre-emptive grief in his voice.

It grew silent around us, then.

“You are not nearly strong enough to wield the sword at that level,” Venix continued. “The effort of channeling a Tier Four’s Core Collapse…it would erase you, along with the beast.”

Kazuma didn’t deny it.

“That is MY sacrifice to make!” He shouted defiantly, thumping his chest with one fist. “MY choice! Not yours! If it will save my family from the gutters, it is one I will gladly make! And you will not take that from me! I will kill you before I allow it!”

At that…Venix…

Looked away, and didn’t speak in protest.

I noticed that his shoulders fell slightly, though.

Nobody spoke for a moment, as the hot, humid wind of the jungle misted about us. I looked up in the midst of the standoff, to see that it was nearly lunchtime by now. We’d…been talking for quite a while now.

As much as I didn’t want to denigrate Kazuma’s decision, it ultimately…wasn’t our business. We still had a decision to make, and we didn’t have the full story.

I coughed into my fist, in a mirror of Renauld from earlier. As the gathered’s eyes fell on me, I spoke. “You still never answered why the Order left you behind, then, if Shacklock’s whole plan relies on you,” I pointed out. “You said something about betrayal?”

Kazuma finally tore his gaze away from Venix to frown at me. “Yes, because not everyone in the Order of Solstice’s Flame agrees with his decision,” He said reluctantly. “Factions have arisen in their ranks. Some believe the Grandmaster’s plan to be their best course of action, after their exile following the Construct War. By ridding my country of such a persistent threat, they hope to negotiate with the River Throne for the right to establish themselves as a recognized Sect. Others think it’s foolish to try and permanently slay Tatsugan. They contend that they can build a new home on this island, and slay him occasionally,” He stressed. “Keeping in mind the need for the wyrm to still live for periods of time. They intend to hold the threat of the nascent Calamity over Hinaga’s head for the right to settle the island.”

I blinked slowly at that…ridiculous plan.

Azarus spoke what I’m sure we were all thinking. “That’s dumb,” He bluntly. “They’re just goin’ to antagonize the Kawamarans. Even if it works, they’re always goin’ to be lookin’ to root ‘em out.”

Kazuma nodded. “It is foolish, which is why the Grandmaster isn’t in favor of it. For all his reputation as a madman, he’s still shrewd. He might be able to hold off on the apex of his Core Collapse for another decade, at the very least, but he doesn’t want to do that. He would rather spend it on this course of action and ensure a more stable future for the Order he founded.”

“But if you’re out of the way,” Liora said slowly.

“Then Shacklock has no choice, and has to go with the other faction’s plan,” I finished for her, frowning.

“Just so,” Kazuma nodded. “Initially, I put no thought into how the company was split into multiple platoons on our journey towards the heart of Goryuen. There was the forward and rear patrols, as well as the central command. With the sheer danger involved when you consider the Oni hordes that inhabit this island, you need ample warning to counteract them. I was…encouraged to be in the rear guard by Captain Wernstrom. I should have been more suspicious.”

He sighed, massaging his brow.

“I was too trusting. The man is the leading forcing among those who wish to see this land settled by the Order of Solstice’s flame,” Kazuma continued, frustration thick in his voice. “But he’s been so courteous towards me that treachery never once crossed my mind. And now I must question just how much of the battle that occurred was real. Did the violence of Oni that we encountered chance upon us by happenstance? Did the Captain’s scouts draw them to our position? Whatever the case, it doesn’t matter. In the midst of battle, I was suddenly immobilized by a force not born of the Oni. It was a binding Spell of some sort, that I could discern from the Mana involved. The timing was very deliberate, because I was then struck by the full force of a tree the monster was using a club, and knocked into the jungle. There I lay, broken and alone, until you came upon me. And now I owe you a debt that I cannot truly repay.”

Then, the samurai stood from his log, turned to face Renauld and I in particular.

And bowed sharply at the waist, at a full ninety degrees.

“I thank you, Healers, for the gift of life that you have extended to me,” Kazuma said solemnly. “I will not forget this.”

Renauld nodded easily at the thanks. I think, as a Healer, he was very used to statements like that. I wasn’t too put off by it either. Kazuma’s thanks, while overtly formal, were very in line with my experiences among the Kawamaran’s. I’d grown used to the ritualism inherent to their culture while operating my little business.

Renauld wasn’t likely to do it, so I stood up from my own log and returned the bow to the appropriate degree. Not too deep, not too shallow. You had to balance these things if you didn’t want to cause offense. “It was only our duty, Kazuma Higanashi,” I said politely. “It…occurs to me that we haven’t fully introduced ourselves. I am Nathan Hart, and this…” I trailed off expectantly, looking at my ‘fellow’ Healer.

Renauld took the hint, and the rest of my companions followed.

While they were introducing themselves to the samurai, I was sidling over to Venix. After the…midly dramatic confrontation between him and Kazuma, the Antium samurai had stepped back.

I didn’t mince words when I spoke to him, even if I did them quietly.

“Should we leave?” I whispered bluntly. At Venix’s raised eyebrow, I elaborated. “Goryuen, I mean. This situation just got way more complicated, and I didn’t sign up to be the in middle of an internal power struggle of an Order that wanted me dead a few months ago.”

Venix considered me for a moment. “And what of your bunker?”

I shook my head minutely, as Azarus presented Kazuma with his katana in the background. I think my Smith friend had found it not far from the samurai, and had taken it upon himself to clean and mend it while we did the same to the samurai’s body. “This might be important to me, but it’s not that important. I can always come back later when this situation has been resolved.”

“I’m not so sure…” Venix whispered, staring out into the jungle.

“What?”

“Consider the bigger picture, Nathan,” An unexpected voice said near my elbow. I didn’t jump, if only because the owner had a habit of doing this these days. Liora had some way to dodge my blood sense, and had a tendency to jump out of shadows and startle me. Honestly, I think it was a kind of training she’d picked up for the both of us. The Gnoll woman had joined us while Renauld and Azarus kept our guest busy. “I’m not sure we can afford to retreat now.”

I furrowed my brow at her. “How so?”

“We appear to have blundered our way into a potential diplomatic incident,” Liora answered, with a wry, humorless cast to her vulpine lips. “Consider the optics. A Herztalian Martial Order is currently in the process of attempting to occupy a highly volatile land, owned by another sovereign nation. They might be exiles, but the Order of Solstice’s Flame has been around for a very long time, to the extent they were practically a Herztalian institution. I guarantee members of the River Court will be skeptical of how unattached they are, if not the Emperor himself. This campaign will be viewed as an attempt by a newly crowned High King to solidify his reign after a tumultuous civil war, and the exile merely a facial cover. It’s not in King-Elect Oskar’s temperament to do so, but the possibility of conquering this land in the name of Herztal will be lingering in the back of those rebellious officer’s mind. Kazuma Higanashi has, perhaps, not thought of this. This Captain Wernstrom could be considering using the island as a bargaining piece to return to the Kingdom.”

“…since when were you an expert on international and inter-court politics?” I asked her with a raised eyebrow.

Liora just shrugged mysteriously at me. “The point is, if the Order of Solstice’s Flame succeeds in laying claim to this island, it could be…bad, for the Kingdom.”

And she was a bit of patriot, yeah, I got it.

Our attention was drawn, however, when Venix shook his head. “That is not the reason I am hesitant to retreat,” He said quietly, before looking down at us gravely. “The boy’s story, where he was ambushed by a full violence here in the outer jungle? Such a thing should be impossible. Normally, the density of Oni here in the outer jungle is too low for groups to form. As I’ve said, only outcasts and failures lurk out here.”

“Normally?” I asked, a frown growing on my lips.

Venix nodded. “Normally. However…in times when Tatsugan is nearing his apex…that changes. The Oni horde swells and grows, and violences are seen elsewhere across the island.”

“You think the dragon has nearly completed his ascension into Calamity,” Liora said, studying Venix with a frown.

“I don’t know,” Venix said with a matching twist to his lips. For once, he didn’t correct someone about Tatsugan about not being a dragon. “But this cannot be left uninvestigated. I inquired as to Tatsugan’s current stage before we left for the island. The last report was from a year ago, and he was said to be in his adolescent state. However, if the growth of the Immortal Wyrm has accelerated in some way, the Empire must be informed. I’m sorry Hart, but we must press on.”

Ah.

Swell.

<<Chapter 245 | Table of Contents | Interlude 13>>

Chapter 245 - Startlement

AN:

Alright, the Discord is now dead, and there are now a few chat channels in the new Community tab that Patreon launch. Free Chat for everyone, and Questions and Corrections for paid members. Much simpler than the overly complicated Discord I had set up.

You can try that out if you'd like, and I'm far more likely to check that then I ever was Discord.

....................................

It took Renauld and I a surprisingly long time to get Kazuma stabilized. The man was so brutalized that we had to actually resort to field surgery on his abdomen to remove the bone shards impeding my Gnoll friend’s healing spells. Such was a thing was dangerous at the best of times, but doubly so in the incredibly unclean environs of a jungle.

While Renauld had Surgery as one of his Professions, he had to channel a specialized field surgery Spell that helped sterilize our impromptu surgery theater.

Our tent.

Seeing that we would be here for a while, Venix had made the call to set up our campsite for the day so we could better treat the opposing samurai. Once we’d moved him inside, Renauld had to maintain his concentration on his spell, while I got to work on the actual surgery with Aetherial Melding.

By that time, Tarus had set beyond the horizon, and Elys had risen to take his place. We only managed to ensure Kazuma’s life when her gentle white light was filtering in through the slits of the tent.

Both Renauld and I were so tired by that point that we barely had enough energy to inform our companions about our success before passing out on cots next to our patient. I just barely remember being told they would watch the man while we rested from our hours-long ordeal.

That was all I heard before the world sank into darkness around me.

………………………….

Thankfully, Kazuma survived the night. Not that I think either Renauld or I were worried about the possibility. I don’t know about him, but I trusted the others to wake one of us if the man was in danger of fading.

Upon awakening, I discovered that the rest of my party hadn’t taken the chance to rest. They had instead decided to keep watch over not only Kazuma, but our surroundings as well.

As Venix told me over our breakfast, while the Solstice’s Flame guys were presumed to have triumphed over the Oni they fought, the fighting may have attracted more of them. Thankfully, no further giants wandered up during the night, but the possibility had existed. The only report they had was of curious feline eyes watching from the treeline.

Once Renauld and I got some food into us, we decided it was time to wake Kazuma up and ask him what the hell had happened. The man was stable, but the last thing we had done before passing out was put him into an induced coma.

Apparently, that was another Spell in the broad repertoire of the Healing School of Magic. Renauld was a good student, it seemed.

Azarus stayed out of the tent to keep watch while the rest of us filtered inside to wake up Kazuma from his ‘sleep’. Bella and Venix kept back while Renauld and I knelt at the Kawamaran man’s side. I didn’t know the Spell to wake him, even though I was technical capable of it now. My Gnollish friend spared a nod at the rest of us, and then held out his hand over the resting figure of the man. After a moment of concentration on his part, it began to glow a soft pink in color.

The reaction was immediate.

Kazuma’s eyes snapped open and darted around the tent. He tensed as they took in the occupants.

Namely, us.

I don’t know how strong the samurai was, or if he had activated some kind of physical enhancement Skill. But he obviously felt threatened, because he tried to jump off the bed and escape. I don’t know where to, and honestly, I don’t think he did either.

Because tried was the operative word here.

Before any of us could even blink, Venix was there. His upper right arm slammed down on the chest of Kazuma, knocking him back down on his back. The Antium man held him there, effortlessly, as his captive scrabbled frantically at the chitinous limb holding him down. Kazuma only stilled when Bella’s cutlass came to rest on his throat.

“Hey,” Renauld said irritably, breaking the tense silence. Unafraid, he used one finger to move the blade at Kazuma’s throat away. “Be careful, yeah? I spent like six hours yesterday patching this guy up. I don’t need him bleeding all over the place again.”

Bella rolled her eyes but complied and sheathed her blade. She backed up a bit, but still kept her eyes trained on the immobile man with arms crossed.

Meanwhile, Renauld had turned to Venix and laid one hand on top of his massive shoulders. The Gnoll had to stretch up a bit in order to reach them, even with the Antium hunched over as he was. “You guys really need to work on your bedside manner. You can let go of him, big guy. Our friend here isn’t going to try and run again. Right?”

Under Renaulds's prompting stare, Kazuma’s eyes flickered around the tent again. He nodded slowly. “I will not,” He said, in a rough voice.

Hearing it, I picked up the pitcher of water we had bought for this expedition. It had an Enchantment Disc of Water attached to the bottom of it, so we could have fresh water at all times. As Venix slowly lifted his massive hand from the other samurai’s chest, and said samurai slowly sat up, I poured a glass of water. Once Kazuma was upright, I walked back over to the cot and held it out for him wordlessly. I suppressed the surge of irritation I felt at the wary look he fixed the glass with.

Look, man.

If I was going to kill you, it wouldn’t be with poison. And certainly not after spending hours putting you back together.

Thankfully, the man had the good sense to take the glass. He gulped it down greedily, and then let out a relieved sigh once the cup had been emptied. He carefully set it down once he was done, and then eyed all of us standing around the cot he was sitting on. “You…” He said slowly. “You are those Eclipsed Dawn people, are you not?”

“Not,” I said shortly, causing his eyebrows to furrow at me. I sighed wearily. “We explained this to you already. None of us are officially members of the Order of the Eclipsed Dawn anymore. Not after the war. We’re just here on personal business. I’m…guessing that your officers didn’t believe us?”

“No,” Kazuma said quietly, setting down his glass. He braced his hands on the floor and tried to stand up, but despite the healing he had been subjected to, he still seemed weak. The man needed Renauld’s help to stand up, and he made sure to nod in thanks to the Gnoll for the assistance. “They did not. And they’re not my officers. I am not a member of the Order of Solstice’s Flame. It seems we are both unaligned.”

“Then why were you accompanying them, Kazuma Higanashi?” Venix finally spoke up. For some reason, the tone of his voice almost seemed…softer.

The samurai must have noticed, because he looked at the Antium quizzically for a moment. “I…suppose you people deserve an explanation, as thanks for saving my life,” He said slowly. Kazuma took a deep breath and nodded sharply. “I am here to restore the honor of my clan. I was...approached by Grandmaster Shacklock and his forces to act as an attache here on Goryuen, because of my family’s…history, with the island. They hoped that I would be able to assist them in their quest to truly vanquish the dread wyrm, once and for all. Then, and only then, could my family be forgiven in the eyes of the court.”

“Your family?” I asked, exchanging a glance with Renauld. “It has a history with this place?”

A small, humorless, bitter smile crossed the lips of the man then. “Yes, you could say that. Our only hopes lie here now.”

Venix slowly shook his head. “The court is mistaken,” He said strongly. “If the Higanashi clan yet lives, then it bears no legitimate fault for anything that transpired on this island.”

That just confused Kazuma even further. “Who…are you?”

At that question, Venix was halted in his tracks. For a moment, he almost looked…lost, scared at the attention that Kazuma was directing towards him.

I stepped in, literally, between the two men. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” I said, drawing their attention. “Kazuma, what happened here? If you’re supposed to be an attache to the Solstice’s Flame, then why did they leave you behind after the battle that seemed to happen here?”

A stormcloud of frustration, anger, and hurt rolled over the man’s face then. “Betrayal, that is what happened,” He said darkly, and then abruptly shook his head. “May we continue this outside? Fresh air would do me good.”

We acquiesced, and as a group, approached the exit of the tent. I heard the rapid shuffling of mailed feet moving away from the flaps as we approached them, and when we all stepped into the sweltering sunlight, I found Azarus standing a conspicuously short distance away from us. The dwarf was deliberately not looking our way, staring faux seriously into the jungle.

I just shook my head at his antics, and sat down on one of the logs around our campfire. Once seated, the Kawamaran samurai continued his explanation.

“With this treachery, I am honor bound to consider my contract with the Order null and void,” Kazuma said, a note of regret and grief in his voice. “So I shall share with you their plans, and my part in them. Shacklock…is dying.”

That made me sit up in surprise. Hell, I wasn’t the only one. Liora in particularly nearly jumped in her seat at the news.

It was Azarus who voiced our collective question, wandering up and no longer pretending he hadn’t been listening in. “The hell could kill an old monster like that?”

Kazuma snorted. “Just that. Age itself is what has undone the Madman.”

Liora breathed in sharply. “I see. It’s Core Collapse. Shacklock is undergoing Core Collapse, and hopes to use it against Tatsugan.” She shook her head. “Does he even intend to fight the beast, or merely to die against it?”

Core Collapse.

I’d heard a few mentions of that in the past, mostly from Grey. From what I understood, it was some kind of mystical process where the march of time catches up with higher leveled, and thus higher Tiered people. The more levels you gain, the longer you lived. The thing is, though, that doesn’t make you immortal. And because you’re not immortal-

(Like a god, for example.)

-the weight of your own power crushes your still mortal soul, after an extended period of time. Centuries and centuries of it. The process itself was supposed to be…dramatic.

Explosively so, in fact.

We absorbed that for a moment before I looked over at Venix. “Would that work? To kill Tatsugan permanently?”

Venix furrowed his brow and shook his head, his antennae waving with the movement. “No, it would not. Certainly it would kill the wyrm in this cycle. I have no doubt there. However…this has been tried before. History tells us that thirteen hundred years ago, Saitou the Wolf sacrificed himself in this manner in an attempt to slay Tatsugan permanently. He was one of the few remaining Paragons that still lived from the days of the War in Heaven, and not even his Collapse could rid Kawamara of Tatsugan. And he was at the peak of Tier 4, while Shacklock is meant to be at the base of it. You…should know this, Kazuma Higanashi,” He said, staring at the other samurai. “This is not secret knowledge.”

“I do,” Kazuma nodded sharply. “But that is not the extent of the plan. There is an…artifact that was meant to be lost here on Goryuen-”

That was as far as he got before Venix stood up sharply from his own seat, cutting off Kazuma. “You cannot mean…” He breathed. “That blade was meant to be destroyed when my mas-when the wielder was slain!”

Everyone stared at him before Kazuma spoke once again. “I…see that you are familiar with the tales of my family, warrior. But no. The weapon I speak of it was not destroyed, during the last Ryumetsu Matsuri. One of the few students of my great-grandfather who survived the battle returned, and spoke of how it was not destroyed, but instead lost on the island.”

Venix took a step forward. “Who?” He demanded, almost desperately. “Who conveyed such knowledge to the Higanashi Clan?!”

Kazuma stood up then, to stand in Venix’s shadow. Despite how much the Antium towered over him, Kazuma displayed no fear as he met his eyes. “Our records say it was Jiro of the Flickering Storm who stumbled into our family compound, wounded and alone. He only lived long enough to tell of the last stand of his lord and master, Gozen Higanashi of the Twin Fangs, and the fate of our family blade. He then died, and was buried with honor in the family plot.”

Oh.

I…see why Venix was so concerned with this man, now. The rest of my companions, save Bella, had realization flash across their faces as well. They had been there for Venix’s dramatic speech during our duel, after all.

At Kazuma’s words, Venix looked…lost. “Jiro lived?” I heard him whisper under his breath. “Why did he not…?”

Finally, Kazuma had enough. He stepped forward aggressively, and to my surprise, Venix backed away from him. “Who are you, stranger? Truthfully. Why are you so concerned for my family? You’ve looked at me as if you see a ghost ever since we met.”

Venix stilled. I had never seen Grey’s bodyguard so absolutely motionless before. Slowly, he craned his head down until he met Kazuma’s eyes once again, before taking a deep breath. “You…deserve to know, this is true. I…am Venix. Last surviving student of Gozen of the Twin Fangs, and the one who failed him deeper than any upon that fateful day during the Ryumetsu Matsuri. It was…my cowardice that saw him fall to the claws of Tatsugan.”

Kazuma blinked, staring up at Venix.

And then he did something I didn’t expect.

He lunged forward in hooking punch, and slammed his fist into the chitinous jaw of Venix.

<<Chapter 244 | Table of Contents | Chapter 246>>

Chapter 244 - Battleground

We’d been traveling through this jungle for three days now. Honestly, it seemed almost neverending. At first, I’d found the idea of a trek through a jungle to be novel and exciting. The idea was something that I had only seen in media from back on Earth.

I didn’t think it was exciting anymore. Now I was just annoyed by the heat and the damned bugs.

I swear, the first thing I was going to do once I got back to Hinaga was ask Elder Jinshin if there were any spells for repelling blood-sucking insects.

Preferably violently.

Over those three days, we’d encountered several more packs of Wyrmkin. Some were larger than the first group of eleven that we stumbled on, some were smaller. As far as monsters went, they weren’t terribly strong one on one. I had encountered more dangerous beasts out in the wilds of Vereden than these pseudo-Revenants. However, this was the first time I had ever encountered any type of monster that worked in coordinated packs.

That was where the danger was with these things, I was finding. The first time that I saw the Devout Wyrmkin use their other Skill, not the poison-spitting one, I had been surprised by it. Plea To the Father, it turned out, was an enhancement ability, not unlike my own former Sylvan Vigor. With it, the bodies of the Wyrmkin were sheathed in a thin layer of crackling blue electricity, and their strength and speed more than doubled.

However, from what Venix had told me, it was a collaborative ability. The scaly little assholes needed a certain amount of their fellows present before they were able to use the Skill. It acted almost like a network of some kind between the monsters. There hadn’t been enough of them present on our first run-in with the Wyrmkin for it to activate.

The first time we’d encountered enough of the beasts for them to use it, I’d felt actually threatened in battle for the first time since Elderwyck. Not even the Oni on the hunt I’d tagged along on had pushed me as hard as those snakes had. It had been the first time I’d needed to activate Vis Maledicta Exactoris here on Goryuen, just to keep up. We’d pulled through, though, and those of us who were unfamiliar with the dangers of the isle were thoroughly educated.

Venix was unrepentant about not warning us fully. He merely said that we had grown from our trials, and that had never intended to hold our hands through all the trials of ‘The Garden’.

In response, I’d called the Antium man an asshole.

However…those were the only monsters we actually ran into during our travels. I had yet to see any of the Oni that I had been expecting, and when I asked Venix about them after calming down, he told me why. According to him, most Oni didn’t bother sticking around in the outer jungles that we were tromping through. Only rejects and failures haunted these woods and even considering that, we were approaching from a direction the Oni didn’t favor. Far out back to sea, the only thing that stretched away from Goryuen was open ocean. There were no Kawamaran islands or sub-continents for the Oni to march from, with the direction we were approaching the central mountain ranges. It was there that we would come face to face with the Oni.

Despite that, I still thought I’d heard some of the brutes in the distance. On the second day, crashing trees and thundering footsteps had sounded in the distance, halting our advance. We’d waited tensely for nearly thirty minutes, waiting to see if the distant creature was in our path. But it seemed to be moving away from us, and we never actually saw the Oni that must have been making the noise. After getting back underway, we didn’t even find the signs of its trail. The monster must have been one of the truly enormous ones, to have been making so much noise from so far away.

Not uncommon with Oni, from my experience.

Anyway, during our trip so far, I’d grown two levels to level one hundred and thirty-three. I hadn’t gotten anything exciting from those levels beyond more Virtue points, but the added potency was welcome nonetheless.

Over all those days, we had yet to settle down for a night of rest, and had been pushing the whole time. Day and night we had been working our way through the brush of the jungle. Honestly, it hadn’t been as dangerous as I had thought it would be. Unlike Awakened, the natural world and even the monsters that dwelled within it needed nightly rest. Sure, there were nocturnal hunters out there, but that didn’t include the Wyrmkin or the Oni.

What haunted the night wasn’t the most dangerous thing out here.

Funny enough, we did get more visitors curious about us overnight though. Watchful eyes from the Children of Shurenga peered out of every nook and cranny of the dark brush. Some were large and wary, but others…others looked much smaller and much more curious to me. It had to be their young out on hunting trips with the elders.

That first night, I’d been intensely curious to see what a Shurengan cub looked like, so I’d stopped and tried to bait one out with a piece of jerky.

An extremely deep warning growl that seemed to sprout right out of thin air, right next to my ear warned me away from that course of action. I’d slowly backed away from the hollow with the small pair of curious eyes, leaving the jerky behind as an apology.

Lesson learned.

When I caught up to the group after that and told them about my near encounter, Bell had slugged me hard in the arm for my foolishness, while I had gotten the evil eye from Venix.

I’d taken the rebuke in the spirit was taken, rubbing my now bruised arm the whole time. Days after and even with the mild healing factor of my Status, I still had that bruise.

But now, it was the afternon of the third day of our journey, and we had just stumbled upon something…different.

It wasn’t often that we happened upon large clearings in the jungles of Goryuen, but this was an exception. The actual space was large, nearly the size of a sports field from back on Earth. If there had ever been trees growing here, they had long since been uprooted in some manner. In their absence was left nothing but fallen leaves wide as a man was tall, equally tall grasses, and the detritus of unending growth. But it had been disturbed.

This looked like the aftermath of a battle. And not an old one.

This looked fresh.

Great rents in the soil of the isle had been scooped up from Vereden, leaving craters all about. Gaps in the underbrush and uprooted grass were flung every which way, and upon the remaining turf, dried blood was visible, baking in the light of Tarus above. Trees appeared to have been uprooted around the edges of the clearing, and now lay strewn about the pasture, oddly contorted and splintered. Occasionally, I saw glints of metal twinkling in the sunlight all across the field, the left-behind weapons of warriors who either forgot or were unable to retrieve their blades. But none of that gave me the vital clue as to tell me who had fought here.

No, it was the tall banner of tattered grey cloth, emblazoned with a flaming spear and shield that stood in the middle of the clearing.

The banner of the Order of Solstice’s Flame.

They had fought a battle here, and if they had won it, that victory had been pyrrhic.

There were no bodies on the field, of either the Order or their opponents.

Our group had stopped at the edge of the field to look out at it warily, reluctant to step foot inside. I think all of us were a bit surprised to see evidence of the Order, after seeing nothing of them after the confrontation on the beach. They must be ahead of us in some manner, which honestly suited me fine. That meant they were, in a way, clearing a path for us. Perhaps they were taking a more direct route through the jungle, instead of the slow, cautious one that we were. If that was true, then they had run smack dab into the true danger of Goryuen.

Because, to me, this type of damage looked like…

“Oni,” I whispered quietly, a frown growing on my face.

To my right, Venix nodded with eyes narrowed in concentration. “I have no doubt it is so,” He said. “It appears one of Shacklock’s expeditionary forces ran straight into a violence.”

Azarus was to the Antium samurai’s right, and I saw him cross his arms. “A…‘violence’?”

I spoke up before Venix could. I’d heard the term back during my Oni hunt, but I suppose it had never come up during his own. “What the Kawamaran’s refer to as a group of Oni.”

“There had to be at least four of them,” Liora spoke up, her eyes sharper than most. They scanned the clearly clinically before pointing. “Look, there in the center. I can see the evidence of at least four different gigantic footprints.”

I’d take her word for it. Even if I was no slouch at tracking, even I couldn’t make out the individual imprints of Oni feet in that muddy morass. Not from this distance.

Venix stepped forward into the clearing, breaking our spell. “They must have triumphed, to take their dead with them. There are no Oni here.”

I joined him. “We should take a look around. Maybe they left some supplies behind.”

I was surprised at the frown Venix fixed me with. “I do not make a habit of scavenging battlefields, Hart.”

Bella came to my defense, stepping forward and crossing her arms. “It’s just bein’ smart. Anythin’ we find out here is somethin’ we don’t have to fight the damn cats over.”

The other day, Bella had been tasked with hunting up a meal for the group. She returned unexpectedly late, grumbling about her kill being stolen right from under her nose by a crimson-red blur.

She’d carried a bit of a grudge against the Children of Shurengan ever since.

Venix cast his eyes over the rest of my companions and didn’t find any support. Liora was too pragmatic to refuse a bit of scrounging and Renauld was a bit…morally-flexible, I’d found.

Azarus, of course, always had my back.

The Antium sighed and nodded. “Very well,” He said reluctantly. “But no more than ten minutes. We make good time towards the ranges. At present, I’d estimate us to be only two days out from them. I do not wish to give Shacklock free reign of Tatsugan’s lair, and so we cannot dally.”

We agreed, and set out into the field.

Cautiously.

……………………………….

A few minutes of picking over the battlefield later, the most I’d found was a discarded shield that bore the crest of the Solstice’s Flame. There had been a few shattered glass bottles as well that, once upon a time, might have held potions. But now they were little better than shards sinking into the mud and blood. I figured I would keep the shield and get a bit of practice breaking items down with Aetherial Melding through it. I could always use an extra ingot of steel to play around with.

However, I was knocked out of my destructive daydreams by the sound of a female voice rising in a shout from across the field. Looking up, I saw that Liora was waving one hand in the air from near the tree line. Seeing that she had nearly everyone’s attention, she cupped her hands in front of her muzzle and shouted once more.

“Injured over here!” She yelled, sending a bolt of lightning down my spine. “Healers to me!”

….what?

The Order had left someone behind? An injured person?

I shook my shock off rapidly and sprinted her way, seeing that Renauld was doing the same. The Gnoll man had hiked his robes up to his furry knees and was scurrying as fast as he could towards his fellow fox.

I got to her first and followed her pointing finger towards the man that was injured. I received another shock, then, because I recognized the man.

It was the samurai that nearly squared up with Venix, back on the beach. The lone Kawamaran that had been in attendance among the Order of Solstice’s Flame.

Kazuma, I think his name was.

The man was lying in the roots of one of Goryuen’s twisting trees, covered in mud and blood. A great deal of it seemed to be from him, as he looked nearly broken. Kazuma’s right arm and left leg were both very obviously broken, with the splintered end of a femur poking through the skin of the afflicted limb. His chest rose and fell in hitched breaths, an indication to me that there must be internal damage. Counting scrapes, bruises, and cuts dotted his form, visible through the massive rents in his now tattered green and red robe.

He looked like he was barely clinging to life.

Unconscious.

Renauld didn’t waste a second on shock seeing the man, and skidded to his knees by the samurai’s side, hands already glowing warm emerald. “Nathan!” He barked, as he laid his hands on the dying man. “Attend!”

I snapped out of it and joined Renauld in trying to save Kazuma’s life, rapidly pulling various potions and medical supplies as I did so.

I may not be a true Healer, but I was qualified enough at this point to count as an assistant.

We got to work.

<<Chapter 243 | Table of Contents | Chapter 245>>

Chapter 243 - Scaled Devotion

We were perhaps three hours into our journey when Liora brought us to a halt. The Gnoll woman dropped out of the treetops in front of Venix, landing in a crouch and locking eyes with the point man. “Stop,” She said suddenly, sounding out of breath.

He did, and the rest our procession followed. “What is it?” Venix asked her seriously.

Standing up from her crouch, Liora took a moment to take a swig of water from her canteen. “Monsters ahead,” She breathed.

The tension in the group ratcheted upwards, and I frowned, tightening my grip on the bow in my hands.

“Bout damn time,” I heard Bella mutter in front of me.

Guess she’d been itching for a fight. I suppose it was a change of pace from monkeys watching us from tall branches, squealing hogs, and silent, stalking cats.

Not to mention the damn bugs trying to drain me of blood.

Venix nodded sharply. “Composition?”

Liora straightened up at his tone, nearly coming to attention. I guess old habits died hard, when you’d spent most of your life as part of a paramilitary organization. “About a dozen strange, snakelike creatures that I’m unfamiliar with,” She said. “I stumbled upon them on my path and had to retreat rapidly, so I was unable to Observe them. As soon as I laid eyes on the beasts, they reacted as they could sense me and began to search.”

Venix sheathed his clearing blade and frowned in thought. “Tell me, did they possess four legs and wispy white hair?”

Snakes with legs? Next, you’re going to tell me about fish with wings.

Wait.

Wasn’t that a thing? Nevermind.

Liora nodded. “Yes, they did. I take it you’re familiar with them?”

Venix sighed, and responded in a manner that was common with him.

“Wyrm’s breath, twisted spawn,

Crawling beasts in dragon’s guise,

Howl to false heavens.”

Nobody even flinched at the sudden Haiku. We were all used to Venix’s peculiarities by now.

“Yes, consider them the spawn of Tatsugan,” He said patiently. “Proto-Revenants, if you will.”

That caught my attention. I stepped forward, my demeanor intensifying. “Like Rhazal’s?” I asked sharply, drawing Venix’s gaze.

I don’t think I would ever forget the strange monsters that had laid siege to Elderwyck upon Rhazal’s coming. The strange bat-dinosaurs had spawned both from thin air, and the corpses of those they had slain. The result had been an unending tide of them rolling over both of the twin cities and nearly scourging them of all life. They would have, too, if it hadn’t been for the last-minute save from a source I’m sure the cities hadn’t been expecting.

The Lich living under their feet.

If it hadn’t been for Tlazo and his ‘assistants’, I’m not sure there would have been cities to save, when I killed Rhazal.

And now apparently Tatsugan had some of his own.

Venix was unfazed by my regard. “Not exactly,” He said evenly. “The Calamity you slayed must have been specialized towards army creation, during the War in Heaven.”

I furrowed my brow. Yes, I supposed Rhazal had referred to himself as ‘the father of monstrosity’. It was…possible that he’d had a specialty, for all of his otherwise impossible might.

“Tatsugan is different,” Venix continued. “The specifics of the process elude me, but his creations are entirely independent of him. He does not control them. They are merely monsters whose birth is influenced by his Aether that encompasses the range he calls home. They mingle with the Oni, flowing down from Mt. Gorenzan and forming packs. They act as hounds at their beck and call. The Wyrmkin are, in essence, scavengers following at the heels of the Oni hordes.”

“What are they doing here, then?” Renauld asked with a frown, before gesturing out into the distance. “We’re a long ass ways away from the mountains.”

He was right. Despite trekking through the jungle for hours, the distant peak of the mountains didn’t even seem like it had grown any closer. I don’t even know if one of those mountains was the one we sought. Mt. Gorenzan could be farther in than even those rocky crowns. It was going to take days and days of hiking for us to reach them.

“The Wyrmkin infest the whole of the island,” Venix said. “This is unlikely to be the first time we encounter them. This shall be a good introduction to their peculiarities. Ready yourselves.”

I stepped back, satisfied.

I was totally fine with that. I’m not sure I would ever have problems with putting down Calamity spawn.

As Venix drew all four of his swords, the rest of my companions did as he’d said. Azarus drew his hammer, while Bella did the same with her cutlass. Meanwhile, Renauld just tightened his grip on the Healers staff he’d already been using as a walking stick, and Liora…did nothing. The other Gnoll fought with her fists and claws, and was already limbered up from her sprint back to us.

I merely drew an arrow and laid along the string. I was still guarding Renauld as far as I was concerned, so I would just provide ranged support for the rest of my melee-focused companions.

Seeing we were ready, Venix advanced through the brush.

It didn’t take us long to encounter the Wyrmkin. They were…pretty odd, I have to say.

I threw out an Observe at the first one I saw.

Name: Devout Wyrmkin

Level: 174

Age: 3 months, 12 days

Species: Monster

Abilities: Plea to the Father, ???

Strong. Just barely in the range I was capable of seeing with Observe.

I wasn’t really worried, though. Instead I was just…looking at the beasts, in the moments before they noticed us.

Liora had been half-right to call them snake-like. The Wyrmkin possessed long, thin, sinuous bodies covered in electric blue scales from snout to tail. What made them even more snake-like was the rattle they possessed at the end of it, which occasionally flicked out and emitted a clicking noise. That was where the serpentine resemblance ended.

As Venix had said, they each had four limbs, not too dissimilar to what you might find on something like a regular lizard. Each of these legs terminated in four-toed feet that possessed a single prominent claw, akin to the raptors I’d seen in films from my youth. But it was their heads that diverged the farthest from that of a snake.

Their skull was almost like that of a dog. They had long, wide muzzles that terminated in prominent nostrils that scented the air constantly. Enormous, nearly bulbous front-facing yellow eyes gazed out at the world hungrily from underneath a shaggy mane of dirty white hair. Jutting out of that wispy mass from their extended brow were two stubby-looking, dull horns.

They still had at least one thing similar to snakes, though.

Forked tongues constantly flicked out of their open, panting mouths, tasting the air. And if I knew anything about snakes…

The moment we saw the Wyrmkin, they saw us. I don’t know if it was the tongues, or the nose, or hell, it could have even been the rattle that zeroed them in on us.

But when they saw us, the pack of eleven Wyrmkin threw back their heads and howled. At the same time, an entire pack's worth of rattle began to clatter from the tip of their tails, almost eagerly. It was a strange call, not at all like the comforting howls of my absent lupine companion. They warbled and hissed and rattled, all at once, in a distinctly monstrous manner.

Well, at least until I shut them up.

I’d taken the chance they presented to infuse my arrow with Grinding Crimson Sunder and loose it into the throat of a crying Wyrmkin.

Ten left.

When his howl died, his brethren ceased their caterwauling and charged our position as one, bounding hungrily over the fallen brush of the jungle floor.

Venix and Bella stepped forward to meet them.

Three of the Wyrmkin tried to converge on Venix, only for him to almost contemptuously halt their charge with his whirling blades. One serpentine hound was bisected neatly at the waist with the Antium’s upper left blade, while another was skewered by both the left and the right lower. The third beast thought to capitalize on Venix’s distraction by lunging for his chitinous throat, only to be slapped out of the air by the flat of his upper right blade. The monster loosed a hissing yelp as it flew through the air.

Right at Bella.

The Pirate Captain had already dispatched one of the Wyrmkin that had charged her by that point, but she didn’t waste the chance Venix had given her. With a shout of effort, her cutlass sprouted a swirling haze of pure storm. Crackling clouds that emanated wind, rain, and lightning ran all up and down its length.

Bella cleaved upwards with her chaotic blade, right in the oncoming path of the falling Wyrmkin. The razor-sharp edge of her sword left behind a brilliantly crackling echo of bright blue lightning in its wake as it ripped right through the shoulder of the monster. As the Wyrmkin fell into two pieces around Bella, her arm shot upwards through the clouds of dissolving Miasma, picking out the beast’s Core. She grinned and pocketed the jewel, and then got back to her slaughter.

Six left.

Renauld and I were providing ranged support for the frontline, and hadn’t stopped casting and loosing since the battle had started. My Gnoll friend and Healer was casting quick bolts of butter yellow Mana out from the head of his staff, and where they impacted, they sizzled and burned at the scales of the Wyrmkin. They didn’t often kill any of the monsters, but they sure distracted them. Meanwhile, I hadn’t stopped with my own barrage. Since I’d gained General Weapons Proficiency upon maxing out my weapon Talents, I’d found it easier to wield a bow in open combat. My arrows were more likely to hit their target these days, and enhanced as they were with my Skills, they were deadly.

Together, Renauld and I killed another three of the Wyrmkin.

Three left.

Two of the remaining serpent hounds reached our position, only to promptly meet Azarus and Liora. My dwarven friend didn’t bother with fancy Skills or Arts to slay his quarry. Instead, as the Wyrmkin lunged at his throat with a mouth full of razor-sharp fangs, his simply blocked the monster with his shield and repelled it. The Wyrmkin fell to the jungle floor below, stunned, and before it could react, Azarus brought down his hammer.

And crushed its skull.

Two left.

Meanwhile, Liora was locked in a dance with another one of the creatures. This one was more canny than its fellows, and was spamming what must have been the other Skill their kind possessed.

Some kind of projectile of poison.

Every couple of seconds, the Wyrmkin’s cheeks would bulge and fill with a disgusting purple liquid. Once they were full, the monster spat that wad of corrosive junk at the former Nocturne Division member.

She dodged every one of them.

The foul wads of loosed poison missed her every time, to land upon the bark of the trees around us. It only took seconds for their wooden surface to begin to corrode, a testament to the strength of these thing’s poison. Not that it mattered.

It honestly looked like Liora was playing with the thing, it was so outmatched. But the look in her eye wasn’t playful.

It was calculating.

She was taking its measure, and she found it wanting.

Eventually, the Gnollish woman grew tired of the near dance and vanished forward in a haze of black wind. Instantly, she appeared in front of the Wyrmkin that was far too slow to react, and using claws coated with the same darkness of her Skill, simply ripped its head clean from its serpentine shoulders. Almost contemptuously, she tossed it over her shoulder to thump onto the jungle floor, where it dissipated into a cloud of Miasma moments later.

One left.

At least, there should be. I’d counted eleven of the Wyrmkin when the battle started, and I’d kept track of everything that had been killed in the moments since the exchange had begun. I didn’t see the last one, though, nor its corpse. I must have lost track of it, though.

Oh no, whatever will I do? Surely I’ll never be able to react in time to the beast that must even now be stalking Renauld and I.

My core ring told me to stop being a stupid sarcastic asshole and deal with the movement we’d both spotted out of the corner of our eye.

Man, don’t be such a downer. Let me have my fun.

Oh, whatever.

I activated Might of the Wyrdwood at fifteen percent, and with my newly enhanced strength and reflexes, dropped my bow and drew Terractus in one smooth motion. I promptly pivoted on one heel to my left and lunged forward.

Directly meeting the pounce of the Wyrmkin that had thought to circle around the fight and attack our rear flank. In the seconds before my blade met the scales of the rabid beast, I let The Scintillant Blade flash into being over the length of my Oninite sword.

Just in case.

The brilliant burning blade sheered through the scales of the monster effortlessly, meeting no resistance at all. The entire serpentine mass was bisected horizontally down the trunk of its body. Briefly, before the monster burst into Miasma upon its death, I saw a perfect cross-section of the innards of a Devout Wyrmkin.

Very…ribby, I have to say.

I burst through the crowd of Miasma, landing in a crouch. Luckily, I had long since grown used to the pure stench of the mist, so I didn’t immediately vomit.

I did make a face, though. Still, that was the last of them.

I stood up and sheathed Terractus, meeting the startled gaze of Renauld.

The Gnoll blinked at me. “Damn, I didn’t even see it. Thanks, man.”

I shrugged. “Eh.”

“No problem.”

<<Chapter 242 | Table of Contents | Chapter 244>>

Chapter 242 - Attention of the Unseen

AN:

I'm going to be honest. I hate Discord. I hate using it, I hate even having an account. I'm pretty sure I'm going to delete the discord I have, since I don't think I've checked it in months. I only ever made it due to advice from other authors.

But I don't need it, and so it's probably going to disappear soon. I might make a few threads in the new community tab that Patreon has set up, but I haven't messed with it yet to see how it works.

..........................................

I stayed out a little longer than I needed to in my scouting. I’d tracked down what seemed to be an island hog of some kind, munching happily on the abundant tropical fruit that had fallen to the jungle floor. The black and white pig hadn’t heard me coming before I sniped it with my longbow.

As I prepped my kill for transport, the thoughts of my core ring wandered while my outer was busy.

Hunting like this…it honestly made me a bit nostalgic. I had done so much of this with Fade when he was much younger, just after we had met. The wolf-puppy was still learning how to hunt in those days, and I had to teach him to stalk his prey at the time. Those were some…very fond memories, frankly. Not every second of every day during the war had been filled with misery.

There had been plenty of good.

I shook the odd pang of longing off, and right then and there, made a snap decision.

When all of this was done, it was time for me to go and visit Fade like I’d promised I would. Even if Grey had yet to call for us to come to the Academy, I’m sure I could convince Bella to ferry me closer to the Thunderheart’s territory.

I was curious to see how he had grown under Taran’s tutelage, in the months since I’d left him there. Our reunion in the Concord had been far too brief.

Business done and decisions made, I slung my bow over my back and hauled the dead pig over one shoulder. I didn’t bother to take to the treetops like I would have in the past. This area seemed very safe to me, as I hadn't seen any indications of recent monster presence. There were some clear paths through the jungle that I was thinking must have been made by the Oni, but they didn’t look like they had been trodden recently.

I had no reason to be wary now.

Well, except for the ever-present sense that I was unwelcome here. That hadn’t gone away, and the sensation was like a thorn scratching incessantly between my shoulder blades.

Doing my best to ignore it, I made for camp.

……………………………..

Hours later, I settled down with my portion of roast pig with the rest of my companions. The sun had fully set by now, and my kill had finished roasting over the fire I’d lit in Renaulds face. Said Gnoll looked to have long since forgotten the slight, and was happily ripping apart his own pork.

I had long since grown immune to the sight of his sloppy eating habits, so I instead turned to the rest of my friends to ask a question. Something that I…honestly should have asked earlier, but we had been a tad occupied.

I finished chewing, swallowed, and voiced it. “What’s with the Aether on this island?” I asked aloud. “Why does it feel like it wants us gone?”

I was startled at the blank looks the others gave me at that. Liora and Bella ceased their own low conversation to gaze at me in confusion, while Venix stared at me.

However, Azarus had the most experience with my…peculiarities at this point. He set his plate down and frowned. “What are ya talkin’ about, Nate? I don’t know about the others,” He said, looking around. “But I don’t feel nothin’.”

My brow furrowing, I copied him, setting my plate down on the log I was sitting on. “What are you talking about? There’s this…itch to the air. I have this…sense that something on the island doesn’t want us-” I cut myself off before continuing more slowly. “Or…me, I supposed, to be here.”

“I don’t feel anything like that, Nathan,” Liora said quietly, studying me.

Frown deepening, I looked over at Venix. He was the highest-level person here, and as such had the sharpest senses. If anyone could feel what I felt, it would be him.

The Antium man shook his head. “This is not my first time upon Goryuen, and I have never sensed what you speak of, Hart.”

Renauld ceased his scarfing long enough to look up at me. “That’s not ominous at all.”

“Do ye have a bearin’ on this…feelin’, Nate?” Bella asked me, ignoring the Gnolls snark.

I did the same. I tilted my head in thought and ultimately pointed…

Upwards.

My companions followed my finger to the night sky, lit by a crescent Elys. “It…feels like it’s coming from above the island, for some reason,” I said slowly. “But not like, up in the atmosphere or beyond? I’d know if it was Elys or another Great spirit-”

I think.

“-so it’s not them,” I continued. “But there is definitely something watching us. And it doesn’t feel at all friendly. Could it be…Tatsugan?”

“No,” Venix said simply and decisively. “The capabilities of the wyrm are mighty, but well known. They do not include prescience.”

Silence descended on our campfire, then, as I think we all wondered in unison…

Just what was watching us.

Ultimately, there was nothing we could do about it now, and so the conversation died. We finished our meal in almost paranoid silence, before setting up for bed. Venix flat out said he would take all watch periods going forward, shutting down any volunteers. With that settled, we all retreated into the tent to leave him next to the fire.

As I lay down in my bedroll not far from Bella, the scent of her sea-salted hair drifting my way, I found it difficult to sleep. Not because of any anxiety, or even trepidation about our expedition in the morning.

More because that sensation of being watched never left me.

I sighed silently and tried to bear with it.

To little success.

……………………………….

Thankfully, I barely needed sleep these days, even if it was nice. Honestly, the same was true for the rest of my companions as well. This one night of rest had mostly been so we would be at one hundred percent going into the jungle and could last for the next few days with no extended rest. So, I wasn’t too wiped out in the morning when the green period rolled along and dispelled our sleep.

Nobody was much in the mood for small talk, so we had a brief breakfast of travel rations after breaking down our camp. Venix insisted on taking point on our formation for trekking through the jungle that loomed ahead. Renauld was placed square in the center as our most vulnerable member, with Azarus and his shield to his right and Bella to his left. Liora volunteered to act as a scout and range in front of us, occasionally checking back in to report her findings.

That just left me. As what seemed to be usual, I brought up the rear. This happened so much with me that I wasn’t even fazed about it anymore. I personally took it as a vote of confidence that my friends trusted me to watch their backs.

After making sure we had all of our supplies secured in our packs, we got underway. Venix was wary of traveling the already existing paths through the Goryuen jungles in case we ran into traveling Oni. I was confident we could take them, certainly, but why risk trouble when you could avoid it? The Antium man instead drew one of the jungle clearing blades he had recommended we all purchase before leaving Hinaga and set to work clearing a new path through the brush for our use.

He was sparse in his cuts as our group ventured into the dense undercarriage of Goryuen. Venix wasn’t interested in forging a long-lasting path. Instead, he’d told us that night that he intended only to cut the bare minimum, in order to minimize our profile through the jungle. There was more out here than just Oni, after all, and the more noise we made, the more likely we were to attract them.

Conversation was kept to a minimum as we carefully threaded our way along the route Venix was forging for us. The sounds of the Goryuen wildlife echoed through the hot, muggy air instead. Birdsong was plentiful, drifting down to us from the treetops far, far above us. Vines hung in uncountable numbers from overhead, curling and threading their way around and through the branches. Insects were thick both all around us in the air, and upon the surfaces of the ground and jungle vegetation all around us.

There was plenty of wildlife both visible and hidden, as well. The first time I saw one of the small, infant-sized monkeys that seemed to call Goryuen home, I couldn’t help but smile at the sight. They watched us pass from the branches above, always traveling in packs of their own. Their fur was strangely emerald in color, but they didn’t seem to be very Mystical beyond that. Observe told me that these were Pygmy Primeralds, and seemed to be actual animals. Not monsters, and not even Mystic Beasts. Just plain old, oddly colored monkeys.

I liked them like that just fine.

Venix’s cutting also scared away plenty of ground animals as well. More than a few startled island hogs, so similar to the one I had hunted the night before, were startled out of the brush by his blade. None of them actually attacked us, streaking away further into the jungle and squealing in disgruntlement.

Every once in a while, I would see odd-looking, squat little birds zip across the jungle floor as well. I only occasionally caught sight of them, and never long enough to throw out an Observe. But I would swear on my Mother’s soul that they looked like banana’s of all things, complete with bright yellow plumage. I nearly laughed out loud the first time I saw what looked to be a downturned banana flash into the gnarled hollow of a nearby tree, threading its way around my feet.

Occasionally, and I mean very occasionally, I would see something larger watching us from those same hollows. Large, slit, luminous yellow eyes peered out of the darkness at us, as large as the keystone at the head of staff slung over my back. The first time I had seen one of those, I wondered if they were a monster stalking us. I hadn’t even felt the thing with the passive blood sense from Lifeblood Sense. I was so startled I had even raised my bow from its resting position in preparation. But at the first sign of movement from me, the gaze had vanished, the tip of a long, furry crimson tail lashing briefly out of the hollow. I hadn’t even had time to Observe the creature.

I hadn’t been the only one to see whatever that was. Venix had stopped to watch it warily as well, halting the group.

When the thing, whatever it was, had vanished, Renauld asked the question we were all thinking. “What was that?” He voiced in a whisper, as if afraid his voice would bring it back.

Venix kept his gaze trained in that direction, scanning carefully for a moment before answering. “The underkings of the isle,” He said eventually said, in a low tone. “Mystic Beasts that stalk and prowl this land, unafraid of anything, even the Oni. They disdain the presence of outsiders, but won’t attack unless you deliberately provoke or offend them,” He glanced back at us briefly. “However, they have a short temper, so don’t try them. Observe tells us that they are called the Children of Shurenga. I…didn’t expect to encounter one of them so quickly.”

“Who, or what, is Shurenga?” Azarus asked quietly.

The Antium samurai slowly shook his head. “Nobody knows. It seems...they know we're here, now.”

The broad leaves of the jungle up and around swayed in the wind in the silence that followed. Something about their rustling…it almost sounded…playful somehow.

Knowing.

Something deep inside of myself pulsed slowly in response, startling me badly enough to tense. The movement drew Bella’s attention, causing her to look at me with a furrowed brow. “What’s wrong?” She asked quietly.

I slowly shook my head. “It’s nothing,” I said nearly automatically, while my core did the actual investigating. After a moment, it found the unexpected source.

The pulse had come from Bloodroot Resilience, a passive Talent that enhanced my Vitality. Supposedly, it connected me in some way to the ‘unseen earth’, whatever that meant. It…didn’t typically react to anything. Talents didn’t ‘pulse’ like that, by and large.

The last time I had felt something like that had been just after I'd gotten the Talent, back in Elderwyck.

I did my best to put the odd behavior out of my mind and gave her a small smile. “Let’s keep going.”

Bella studied me for a moment and then nodded, falling back into formation. I did the same, and as Venix warily resumed leading us, I couldn’t help but wonder.

Something about the rustling of those leaves…it had reminded me of something. A voice I had heard, months and months ago now in the strange and alien realm known as the Concord. A voice revered by the temple I had begun learning true Magic at.

Anima.

<<Chapter 241 | Table of Contents | Chapter 243>>

Chapter 241 - Time Limit

The air on the beach grew quiet and still in the wake of Shacklock’s threat. A feeling began to sweep through the gathered classers and officers of the Order of Solstice’s Flame. Where before they were mistrustful of our group, now there was a sense of active hostility. The strange Kawamaran samurai even seemed to have been caught up in the confrontation, his grip on his katana strengthening in the wake of Shacklock’s threat. Dozens of narrowed eyes peered at our group as hands began to creep towards and tighten on weapons.

And not just among the Solstice members.

Well used to working in our group by now, Renauld had slowly moved to the rear of our formation. If a fight broke out, it was standard procedure for Healers like him to keep behind the front liners to better tend to our wounds from a distance. Meanwhile, Azarus had squared up to my right while Bella did the same on my left. Conspicuously, neither of them had drawn their respective weapons, and yet there was a tenseness in their frames that spoke for the capacity of violence. Just behind me, I could sense that Liora had angled her way into my shadow. She wasn’t outright invisible, but she had lowered her profile for potential combat in a way I knew they had taught in the Nocturne Division.

In contrast, only three people on this beach hadn’t reacted to the Grandmaster’s agitations.

Venix, for one, hadn’t shifted an inch. The Antium samurai was unmoved and unphased, still standing with all four of his arms folded. His chitinous eyes remained fixed on the man who had just threatened to kill me.

I…was one of those people as well.

After all I had been through, and the soul-shuddering potency of might I had been in the presence of back in Elderwyck?

I could tell that Shacklock’s words rang hollow. There was a lack of intent behind his provocation that seemed obvious to me. It was almost like the old monster was needling for a reaction.

In my experience…when these outrageously powerful old relics were spoiling for a fight, they didn’t bother with words.

That was when the Mantles came out.

His intentions only appeared more apparent when he hadn’t moved or said anything else since his threat.

I crossed my arms and met his eyes. “No, not really,” I said mildly, in complete contrast to the atmosphere. “I’m looking for something else. We’re heading further inland, towards Mt. Gorenzan. We have business there.”

I caught a slight flash of mingled disappointment and amusement in Shacklock’s beady black eyes before he huffed. “Well alright then,” He said easily.

The tension in the air popped like a bubble. There was a mingled sense of confusion, exasperation, and realization among the gathered Solstice members. I saw more than one of them roll their eyes, and then the gathering began to break up and wander away. The officers stuck around, including Captain Wernstrom and the opposing samurai, but I guess the others had seen all they needed to know.

The show was over.

Venix slowly shook his head, his antennae swaying with the movement. “You haven’t changed, I see.”

“And I never will,” Shacklock said, his eyes lingering on me in curiosity. They switched over to Venix after a moment, and he smirked. “You babysittin’ this lot for that bastard then? Maybe hopin’ to get a few levels for the next generation?”

Venix shrugged one shoulder. “That is only a side concern. It is as I said earlier. We seek something at the mountain. You are a side concern as well, old monster. What are you doing on this land? If the throne knew of your presence, a punitive campaign would be called to root you out.”

“Is that a threat, bugman?” The samurai they had called Kazuma said, wandering up. I noticed that out of the rest of the gathered crowd, he had yet to release his grip on his weapon. Nor had the suspicion vanished from his gaze.

For the first time, I think Venix fully noticed the other samurai, taking in his appearance. His brow furrowed and a frown crossed his lips. I noticed that his gaze lingered on the robe that ‘Kazuma’ wore. “That crest…it can’t be…”

That made me curious, so I took a closer look at the Kawamaran man. Pinned on his right breast was an emblem that my eyes had initially glazed over, which Venix had to be speaking of. It detailed a stylized human skeleton hunching protectively around an impeccably detailed spider lily, not so different than what was displayed prominently around it. The bones of the guardian were cast from silver, while the flower itself was golden.

Kazuma frowned deeper at Venix. “And what if it is?” He said defensively.

For a moment Venix almost looked…lost, as he gazed at the other man. “I…I thought you were all lost,” He breathed.

I looked over at Venix curiously at his words. I was shocked at the near desperation I saw in his eyes.

The samurai shook his head slowly. “No,” He said shortly. “The Higanashi live on.”

The strange conversation between the two of them was broken up then by Shacklock clapping his hands together, reminding the two of them that he was still there. “And this fine young lad is gonna help me and my boys claim this spit of dirt,” He said loudly, before wagging a finger at Venix almost scoldingly. “I don’t care a whit if the wet chair has a problem with us bein’ here. Why, I bet they’ll even thank me after we deal with their little worm problem.”

That caught my attention. Hell, it caught everyone else’s attention as well.

Including Venix.

His gaze snapped away from Kazuma to rest on Shacklock, his arms falling from their crossed position in shock.

At our regard, the old man smirked at us with a crazed glint in his wild black eyes. “For good.”

Silence descended on the beach once more, as we all took in Shacklock’s pronouncement. I noticed that Kazuma had directed an almost irritated look at the old man, which he didn’t acknowledge at all.

“You’re hunting Tatsugan?” I asked flatly. “That’s what you’re doing here?”

Bella raised an eyebrow to my left. “And ye think ye can deal with him ‘fer good’, eh?”

“I know I can, baby,” Shacklock confirmed with a grin and a wink at her. Bella made a face at the old man, which didn’t seem to daunt him.

I shook my head at this…crazed geezer’s antics and spoke up. “Sure, that’s…nice. But are you and yours going to try and stop us on the island?”

Shacklock looked back over at me and quirked an eyebrow at my bluntness. He shrugged. “Nah, you do what you gotta,” He said easily, waving a hand over to the jungle beyond the beach. “Try not to get ripped apart by the Oni. Wouldn’t want ol’ Greycton to cry about it, eh? Or…maybe we would! Abloo bloo bloo!” He cackled mockingly, before suddenly appearing to lose interest. Without another word, the old man hobbled away towards one of the bigger tents on the beach.

Talking about sudden mood whiplashes. Did that old relic even have the barest glimmer of sanity left in that skull of his?

His departure left us alone with the officers and Kazuma of, apparently, Clan Higanashi. Whatever that was.

Captain Wernstrom frowned at us suspiciously for a moment. “As the Grandmaster says, you have permission to wander the island,” He said reluctantly, ignoring the fact that we were the only people who actually had permission to be here. “Just stay out of our way. We have our own interests in Mt. Gorenzan.” He gestured, and he and the other officers followed after Shacklock, Lieutenant Salzman with him. Kazuma lingered for a moment, eyes still tracking Venix with a degree of hostility before he did the same.

When they were gone, I jerked my head behind us, and our group converged on the lifeboat into a huddle. “What was that all about?” I asked in a whisper, before looking over at Venix. “They shouldn’t be here, right?”

The Antium samurai nodded slightly. “They cannot. The River Throne would never allow such a sizable host as this to inhabit the Garden without representatives of their own in attendance. The only reason we do not have one, is the small size of our contingent.”

Liora eyed him for a moment. “And that man, the other samurai,” She said quietly. “He cannot be an Imperial representative?”

Venix was quiet for a moment. “No,” He said finally. “Even the fact that the Higanashi still exist…it is shocking to me. The Emperor would never allow that Clan to guard this isle. Not after…” He abruptly cut himself off, shaking his head. “I do not know what Shacklock is after on Goryuen, but we must assume they will interfere in our plans to a degree.”

“Ain’t this a good thing?” Azarus asked abruptly, drawing attention. “If the Solstice guys are pickin’ a fight with the dragon, then don’t that mean it’ll be easier fer us to search fer the door?”

That…was a good point.

“Tatsugan is not a dragon,” Venix said automatically, before frowning. “But I do not know. It is…possible, in theory. However, it's just as likely to send the wyrm into an uncontrollable rage. We shall have to see. Stopping Shacklock...it is beyond us, even if we so wished to.”

“Well, no point in talking about it all day,” I said standing up and breaking the huddle. “Let’s get back to the ship and let Captain Satoru know there’s no issue. We can get our supplies then, and then come back and set up a base camp of our own. Away from the Order of Solstice’s Flame.”

Everyone agreed, and then piled back in the boat. Venix shoved the lifeboat back out to sea, and then in moments, we were rowing back to the Kaminari Maru.

………………………………

Upon our return, Captain Satoru and his crew were visibly relieved to hear that they weren’t in danger of being sunk by the opposing Order. Still, he remained uneasy about something and couldn’t be reassured fully. Strangely, I didn’t see his first mate anywhere among the gathered crew. Usually, the man stuck to his Captain’s side like glue.

I didn’t have time to question any of that, because my companions and I were gathering our supplies for the expedition across the island. The crew of the Kaminari Maru were still wary of going ashore within eyesight of the Order, so Captain Satoru directed the ship some distance downwind of the encampment. There, he dropped all of us off, along with the large packs and crates of supplies we had brought with us.

When the last of his crewmen were back on the ship, it seemed as if it was only moments before the ship that had taken us to the island had oriented itself away and was sailing off into the horizon. I watched them go with a frown, puzzled at the odd behavior of the Captain. Bella stood with me watching him go.

“Mighty quick ta get goin’, that man,” She said with a frown.

I nodded along with her, as Azarus got to work setting up the large communal tent we’d bought this expedition. We’d deemed it better for everyone to sleep in the same walls for safety's sake, so we’d just gone with the one. “He’s supposed to be back in a month for us. But I would have expected the man to try and replenish his fish stocks around here before leaving. I mean, just look at those waters,” I said, waving a hand at the crystal clear, blue-green waters that surrounded Goryuen. Even just off shore, I could see that they were downright teeming with sea life. "Free rations, right there for the taking."

Liora joined us. The Gnoll woman was frowning as she watched the retreating ship. “He goes to inform the Kawamaran authorities of the Order of Solstice’s Flame’s presence on the isle,” She said simply, drawing our attention.

I let out a slow sigh and nodded. “You’re probably right,” I said in acknowledgment. “Which means we better be done with finding that door by then. Because when the Kaminari Maru comes back for us…”

“There’ll be a host of warships in her wake,” Bella finished for me. “And this place is gonna become a warzone when they find them Order people.” She grinned and then punched me in the arm. I just looked at her flatly, resisting the urge to rub the afflicted spot. “Ain’t ever simple with ye, is it Nate?”

I rolled my eyes and resisted the weary impulse to agree.

It really wasn’t.

Instead, I changed the subject. “I’m going to scout the surroundings, maybe hunt up something fresh and bloody for dinner,” I said, turning away and raising the hood of my new cloak. “I won’t be gone soon. Get ready, though, because tomorrow we make for the mountain.”

The girls nodded and I wandered away towards the jungle on the far side of the beach. As I passed our burgeoning campsite, Renauld looked up from the campfire he was putting together. “Try not to get eaten by an Oni,” He said smugly.

In response, I drew one of my daggers and triggered a seldom-used enchantment I had built into the weapon at the forging.

A small sizzle of flame lashed out of the tip and set the campfire alight, sending the Gnoll scurrying back with a flurry of curses. Mostly at me.

I smirked under my hood, and as I reached the tree line, triggered Thorn Cloak. My enchanted cloak ripped and grew crimson thorns.

And I disappeared into the jungle.

<<Chapter 240 | Table of Contents | Chapter 242>>