I heard a chain of roars echo in front of me once again, and this time shapes and colors accompanied them as well. A horde of Volcanic bears stepped out of the forest, each one as large as the one I’d just faced. They all bared their teeth at me, and their flames burned red and high.
“Zoran?” Acnologia said. “Looking at these beasts just made me realize that the Volcanic Forest Bear that we first attacked might have been a young child.”
My shoulder’s tightened. Oh no.
“That makes sense,” Nyx said. “Its size was a lot smaller than these beasts here.”
Great, I muttered. We just attacked a child and now its entire horde is coming after us.
“Hey, you’re the one that attacked it, so you don’t really get to complain.
“Actually, you didn’t just attack it. You killed it,” Acnologia said. “I believe we saw its health bar go down to zero.”
“Oh yeah,” Nyx said. “Wow, you really screwed up, Diablo.”
Not helping, I muttered and turned my concentration to the beast ahead of me.
“Do you think we can take them down?” Freya asked.
“Well, it’s the first big fight we’re going to take on in this world,” I said. “If we can’t take these things out, I doubt we’re going to survive.”
“A simple yes or no was what I was searching for,” she chuckled. “But that works just as well.” She held her sword out in front of her.
We immediately charged forward, the two of us against the group of bears coming at us. I could tell there were about eight of them, and one quick Analyze skill later, I saw they were all about the same level as the bear I’d just fought. Between Lv. 670 and Lv. 690.
This is not going to be easy.
I focused on my inner energy as I charged, and channeled it into my sword. The purple jewel on Dawnbreaker started glowing, and a rich hue of the same shade enveloped the blade. I felt the sword vibrate as I moved forward, and my eyes picked out my first target.
The beasts were charging at us in a side-by-side line, which meant the easiest way to break their formation was to attack one of the ones in the center.
“Take the one from the extreme right,” I said and Freya nodded, changing her direction, and heading right for the bear.
I shot straight through, ready to slash my sword at the bear in the center left. The beast reared up to me, the flames around it increasing in size, turning more intense by the second. I sunk my sword into its side, managing to get the blade to cut into its flesh.
I quickly pulled back and ran around it, readying myself for the next strike. Their hide is really tough, I muttered and swung hard once again. My sword didn’t go too deep, but I’d caused enough damage onto the beast to warrant doing it again.
All of a sudden, I saw a shadow behind me and the next thing I knew I was flying through the air. I smacked into the nearest tree, and crushed through a few branches before landing hard onto the floor. I rubbed my sides as I picked myself up once again. I’d been ambushed from behind by two other bears.
I glanced to my side and saw Freya a few yards ahead, with three bears pushing her up against a tree. Dammit, I cursed.
I heard a roar and one of the bears charged me.
“They’ve got flames,” Nyx said. “Maybe that’s what you should be attacking.”
My eyes widened. In an instant, I knew exactly what the spirit was talking about. I concentrated my energy into my hands and I thrust my palm forward.
“Tritus Oceanus!” I yelled.
A massive blast of water summoned from my palm and smacked into the bears, sending them pummeling through multiple trees before the attack finally cut off. I breathed heavy as I stood up, a little drained from casting the spell. The bears lay on the ground, immobile, the fire no longer burning on their bodies.
I turned to Freya, and my eyes widened. “GET AWAY!” I yelled and the elf immediately jumped, surging high into the air, giving me a clear shot at the bears behind her.
“Tritus Oceanus!” I yelled, casting the spell with greater confidence, and the blast of water surged out a second time. The bears went flying into the air once again, and collapsed to the floor, with their flames now doused.
“That worked better than I’d expected,” I mumbled.
Or so I thought.
A massive growl tore through the skies. And then another. And another.
I turned around, and fear struck my heart.
And then more fear added to it.
The bears I’d attacked first were now all up, only they looked different now. Flames of blood-red burned around their neck, wrist and ankles, the shade deadlier than before. Their eyes had shifted to a darker shade of the same color, and they glared at me, exhaling hot air as they stood up.
I could feel the rage they were directing toward me, and unease spread through my mind. Can I deal with this?
The bears charged at me, only now their speed was much faster than before. I shot away, rebounding off a tree and surging back at them once more.
Better go back to the classics. I put my hand in the air. “Uher!”
A dark phoenix immediately rose from the ground, smashing into the bears and throwing them high into the air. The beasts thudded into the treetops and fell to the ground.
Only to get up and charge at me once again.
I heard more roars sound from behind me and I felt someone lean against my back.
“What do we do?” Freya asked, standing at my flank. “We seem to have aggravated them.”
“Yeaaah. I didn’t think the water spell would do that.”
“Sorry, my bad,” Nyx said.
“I don’t think physical attacks are going to work too well with these creatures.” Freya eyed them all. “We need backup.”
“Not Raffyr or Viola,” I said. “Those two are nowhere close to these beasts in raw level count, let alone attack capability.”
“Ouch. We just push at these guys then?”
I nodded.
A ring of roars sounded and the beasts charged at us, all at once. I shot forward, and swung my blade through the air, sending a powerful arc of wind at them. The attack pushed them back, but didn’t delay their advance by more than a few seconds.
I surged in between the beasts. Dodging claw attacks and bite attempts as I struck their bodies, strike after strike after strike.
All of a sudden, I heard a scream from behind me. I jumped back, away from the bears, and turned to the cave.
Raffyr lay on the ground, with Oris in front of him, holding his blade right above the old man’s heart.
I moved without thinking, and surged right for the knight. My fist met with his face before he could even turn, and the young man went flying into the cave. I watched his health bar as he landed back to the ground.
“He’s still alive,” Nyx said.
Lucky, I grinned. I turned around and saw that Freya had backed up to the mouth of the cave as well, eyeing the approach beasts intently.
“We can't take them on ourselves,” I said, standing beside her.
“Diablo, maybe we should do it now,” Acnologia said.
I shook my head. We can manage without it.
“But we—”
We’re in a new place with no clue what adversities we’ll face, I thought. I want to hold that in reserve for when we truly have no hope of beating an opponent. Not just because defeating an enemy is particularly hard.
“...Understood,” the dragon said.
Freya looked through the trees. “What’s your plan of attack?”
A thundering roar emerged from the forest, and the form of the bears come forward, with their blood-red eyes looking at us in absolute rage. Whatever I’d done with my water attack had caused them to completely flip.
I held Dawnbreaker up before me, and my mind formulated a plan. I hadn’t wanted to use any of my more special moves here, given we didn’t know where a dangerous enemy might be watching us. But the situation had pushed me to using those very mo
ves now.
Rather be found out than have my friends killed, I thought.
“Kalia Urr Tal,” a voice uttered, rendering the words in a melodious tone.
Two walls of stones rose from either side of the group of Volcanic bears and shot toward each other, smashing through every living thing between them. The walls collided with a massive boom, and sunk back into the ground immediately after, leaving no trace of the Volcanic Bears it had just crushed.
Not even blood.
I turned around, my face aghast, and I instantly froze.
Eyes of iridescent green shone through the shadows, mischievous in their gaze. The lady in the white robes looked at me, and her dark hair fluttered in the wind.
“That was quite refreshing,” she smiled. “Wouldn’t you agree?”
***
CHAPTER SEVEN
So I’d been brought to the past, attacked by a horde of Volcanic bears, and then saved by the most unlikely of forces.
The Eternal.
The dark-skinned lady looked around, at every single one of us. Curiosity brimmed in her eyes, but she didn’t seem the very least bothered about where she was right now.
“Well, to her this is home,” Nyx said. “Your feelings are the ones that are odd here.”
I know, I sighed. But to be completely fair, I also lost almost all of my memories.
“Thank you,” the lady bowed to me.
“Eh?” I looked at her.
“You are the one who saved me, did you not?”
“What?” I blinked.
“From the cave,” she said. “On that island.”
“Oh.” I recalled the events that had happened earlier in the day. “You remember all that?”
“It appears I do.” She sounded confused. “Although the images are very faint. The most I can recall is you taking me somewhere, out of harm’s way.”
“I didn’t really do much.”
“It meant much for me,” she smiled charmingly. “I am Irmeia.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Irmeia, I am Di—” I stopped. “Zoran,” I smiled. “I am Zoran.”
“Well, thank you for saving me, Zoran,” she said.
“That’s the first time you’ve chosen Diablo over Zoran.”
Switched back fast enough though, I smiled.
“Why did you refrain from giving her that name, Diablo?” Acnologia asked.
The Phantom Lord has many enemies, I replied.
“YOU FIENDS!” a voice yelled, and a man in a dark suit shot out of the deeper end of the cave.
Oh yeah, the Knight, I thought. I almost forgot about him.
I unsheathed Dawnbreaker, but I didn’t need to. Freya shot to Oris in a flash and struck the flat of her blade against his side. He went flying into the cave walls and slumped to the floor in a flash, unconscious yet again. She simply tossed him over her shoulder and walked back to us, with a cold expression in her eyes.
“Impressive,” Nyx said.
“What do we do with this guy?” Freya asked.
“Make sure he’s bound up,” I said. “I’m not sure what we can bind him with.”
“I can take care of that,” she said. She dropped him down to the floor and pulled his hands behind his back. She held them together at the wrist and whispered a word. A string of white light flowed out of her fingertips and swirled around the man’s wrists, constricting them in an instant.
“Whoa.” My eyes widened.
The elf smiled. “He shouldn’t be able to get out of those anytime soon.”
I nodded and turned to face the Eternal. Raffyr and Viola stood behind her, both staring at the Eternal eagerly. Raffyr looked at lady in wonder, obviously already ready with a ton of questions to ask, and Viola…well she still wasn’t meeting my eyes yet, so I couldn’t really say much.
“So, what exactly happened?” Irmeia asked. “I remember feeling a heat pass through me, and the next thing I knew I woke up here.”
“Wait, I’m still confused,” I said. “You were able to feel sensations even while you were in that coma?”
“It is odd, isn’t it? I do not understand it myself. But I am certain it happened.”
Why would that be the case though? I wondered.
“It might be useful to find out who she is,” Nyx said. “Other than her name of course.”
I nodded. “Irmeia, can you tell us anything else you know about yourself?”
She shook her head. “My name is all I remember. The other pieces of information…They seem to have disappeared from my mind.”
I stiffened at the phrase, but stayed calmed. “That is unfortunate,” I said. “Do you recall anything about how you got here?”
She thought for a bit, but shook her head. “Nothing of that either. All I remember is feeling a heat pass through my body. After that I woke up in here and used that attack on those bears.”
I quietly used my Analyze skill on her and waited for the screen to pop up into my mind.
DING!
Name
Irmeia
Race
Eternal
Level
675
Wow, I thought. I had not expected her to be that strong. Especially since I hadn’t been that strong when I’d first woken up.
“But you’re also special,” Nyx said, in an amused tone.
I knew he was joking, but he was also being serious. I was an odd case, so I couldn’t be a standard for how things would happen to other Eternals.
DING!
Congratulations! You have completed the quest:
The Third Eternal I!
You have learned the name of the Third Eternal and taken a new step toward learning who she is. Reward: The Third Eternal II.
DING!
Congratulations! You have obtained a new quest:
The Third Eternal II!
Irmeia appears to have lost all other memory of who she is. Try to find a way to learn more about her and her past. Reward: Unknown.
I took a look at both screens and closed them, not paying much attention to the objectives.
“Moving on,” Irmeia said, looking at us. “I do not know about all of you, but I am famished. I obtained quite a bit of meat from defeating the horde. What do you say we make ourselves a meal here?”
I looked at everyone else. They were all huffing tiredly, and were probably hungry as well. Freya and I hadn’t eaten anything since we set out on our adventure a long while ago.
“That…sounds good,” the elf said.
“Splendid,” Irmeia said. “Let us get started then.”
And it was a lot easier than I expected. We had everything we needed right around us. The trees that had fallen during the battle had more than enough dry wood on them to start a fire. I started a few flames with a moderated Fire Arts spell, and Irmeia brought out the bear meat she had. A large pile lay on the cave floor, and rose up to my waist.
That’s a lot of meat, I said.
“Well, she also did kill a lot of bears,” Nyx said.
Irmeia quickly set up a wooden turnabout. She impaled two large sections of meat with a sharp branch and lay it on the picks, over the fire. I helped her along the way, preparing the meat with spices that she had.
“This lady is quite prepared,” Acnologia said.
Tell me about it, I chuckled, as I patted some exotic powder into the meat.
DING!
Congratulations! You have learned a new skill
Cooking!
The world of tastes and delicacies is now within your reach. Food you prepare will cause greater satisfaction and fulfillment.
Effect 1
None
I grinned. Nice, I thought, and closed the screen.
“Well that was an odd skill to obtain,” Nyx said.
I’ve always wanted to get a cooking skill though, I grinned.
“Why?”
So I can cook myself good food, I said. Why else?
It took us a while longer to prepare more sets of meat, a
nd it took even longer to roast them over the fire till they were done. About an hour later we all finally sat down, each with a large piece of meat wrapped in fresh leaves from the fallen trees.
I unwound a part of the green wrap and took a bite into the food, and felt the meat melt into my mouth. It’s been a while since I had food that was this good, I thought. Actually, I couldn’t really remember the last time I had food this good.
DING!
Health Regeneration increased by +5% for an hour! Mana Regeneration increased by +5% for an hour!
Eh? I blinked. I heard more ding sounds and saw that everyone else had a Ga’em prompt open in front of them as well.
“Ah, sorry,” Irmeia said. “My cooking skill is quite high, so when I make food, it automatically increases your regeneration rates.”
“Why are you apologizing for that?” I chuckled. “That’s amazing.”
She nodded, and a smile shone on her face. After that, everyone ate with gusto, and we finished off our meat in quick bites. The whole time, I kept a watch on Oris from the corner of my eyes. The knight was still knocked cold, and was on the ground a few yards from us. I was pretty sure he couldn’t get out of those bonds of light, but in the event he did, I wanted to make sure nothing happened.
“Okay,” Freya said. “I’ll start since no one else seems to have anything to say.”
Eh? I looked at her.
“What exactly are we going to do right now?” the elf asked. “It’s clear that we’re in the past right now. And I doubt we should stay here for longer.”
Raffyr nodded. “We have not started thinking about a way to leave this time.”
I nodded. “We do need to find a way to get back to when we came from.”
Irmeia glanced at us. “If you are looking at me for an answer, I should tell you now. I have nothing to say about it,” she said. “I am sorry.”
The Eternal: A Boxed Set (World of Ga'em Book 6) Page 55
