The first area I cleared out was the one around Kari, Fay, and Lin. I raced around the three like a bolt of lightning as I demolished the Demon Beasts surrounding them. Ligers lost their heads, Felinoids were slashed in half, and Greater Pythons were split down the middle. With so many enemies in the clearing, I had no idea how many I killed. By the time I was done, the jungle floor was stained with so much ichor the ground was no longer visible.
“Eryk!” Fay and Kari shouted while Lin cried out, “Darling!” at the same time.
“Help me clear out the rest of these Demon Beasts!” I called to them.
They didn’t say anything. Words weren’t needed. Despite their injuries, Kari, Fay, and Lin quickly raced into the defensive circle and began helping protect the others, while I continued to use the Flash Step Version 3: Lightning Step to move about the clearing so I could slice enemies apart.
One Liger appeared within my sights. I swung the Dragon’s Tail Ruler as I passed by it, feeling only a moment of resistance before the creature was split in half. The two halves flew away from each other, gore spilling to the ground, intestines splattering everywhere as both halves hit the jungle floor with a meaty thud.
A Greater Python hissed like an angry beast as it lunged at me, but I turned into a streak of lightning and appeared above it. I was already spinning my body around. Using the Dragon’s Tail Ruler as a fulcrum, I spun a full 360 degrees like a windmill. The Greater Python’s head flew off and hit the ground. It continued to open and close its mouth as though trying to bite anyone nearby but eventually stilled. Meanwhile, the body fell to the floor and twitched spastically several times, its movements growing slower and slower until it stopped altogether.
I wasn’t sure how much time passed, but the Demon Beasts attacking us eventually stopped—or rather, all the Demon Beasts that had been attacking were dead. Gazing around at the brutalized bodies for a moment, I looked back at the Spiritualists to see how they were holding up, though I had to withhold a grimace. None were dead. That was good, but a few were in bad shape. All of them were injured to some degree, and I could tell from how some were on the verge of passing out that they had depleted all their Spiritual Power.
“Catalyna!” I shouted as I raced over to their group.
“You!” Catalyna shouted back, her face red. “Where have you been?! Those Demon Beasts attacked us without warning! You should have been here! Several of our people died because you weren’t there to warn us!”
Her words brought me up short, but I knew now wasn’t the time to lament. “I apologize. I sensed a strong Spiritual Power and went to follow it. I didn’t know this would happen in the time I was gone.”
“A strong Spiritual Power.” Catalyna furrowed her brow as I nodded. Kari, Lin, Fay, Finn, and Marko came up alongside us. “Well, whatever. What’s done is done. We need to regroup and salvage what we can. This expedition is a bust. We’re heading back to Nevaria.”
“I don’t think we can,” I said.
“Why not?” asked Marko.
“Which direction did those Demon Beasts come from?” I asked.
“Direction?” Catalyna frowned as though she couldn’t understand what I was getting at.
Lin was the one who answered me. “They came from the south.”
Her words were met with blank stares from some, but those who understood, like Catalyna and Marko, sucked in a deep breath. Kari and Fay closed their eyes, anguish washing over their faces. As we all stood there, several loud noises emerged from deeper in the jungle. The direction those sounds were coming from was the south.
“They’re coming from the direction of Nevaria,” I stated. “Meaning we can’t go that way. What’s more, it sounds like there are more Demon Beasts heading toward us from that direction. Unless you’re willing to fight your way through however many Demon Beasts are between us and the city, then we have to go somewhere else.”
My words caused the remaining Spiritualists who’d survived to panic. Faces paled as the blood drained from them. A few began biting their nails. One even broke down in tears.
“W-we’re all gonna die here, aren’t we?”
“Is this the end? I don’t wanna die!”
“Damn it! If I knew this was going to be my last day, I would have asked my girlfriend to marry me!”
“If we can’t go back to Nevaria, then what should we do?” asked Catalyna, speaking up over the rising tide of panicking voices.
“We’ll split up into two groups,” I began. “One group is going to act as a decoy to draw the Demon Beasts’ attention away from the other group. The decoy group will only consist of myself, while the rest of you—”
“Absolutely not,” Kari interrupted, putting her foot down before I could finish. “There’s no way we’re letting you go off on your own this time. Forget it. You are taking at least one of us with you.”
As she spoke, Fay and Lin nodded in agreement. I struggled for a moment, but I knew now wasn’t the time to argue, just as I also knew that Fay and Kari had been training for this very reason. Denying their help now would be like saying I didn’t trust them to watch my back.
“Okay. Me and one other person will act as decoys to draw the Demon Beasts away from everyone else. Meanwhile, the larger group will head toward those ruins on your map. If they’re unexplored, then it means there should be a place where you can safely hide out until the Demon Beasts disperse.”
Catalyna bit her lip as her light blue eyes flickered with indecision. “But… the ruins are still at least two days away. Several of us are injured and all of us are exhausted. We’ll never make it like this.”
“You will,” I declared. “I have several bags of alchemy pills in my tent. Among those pills are the Tender Healing Pill, Spiritual Booster Pill, Temporary Enhancement Pill, Endurance Pill, and Blood Clotting Pill. There should be about fifty of each inside. If you take an Endurance Pill now, then take another one every time you get tired, you should be able to cut down the time it takes to reach those ruins in half.”
What I was suggesting was a reckless charge day and night without resting through the Demon Beast Mountain Range, using pills to keep them going until they reached safety. It was basically a suicide run. However, it was also the greatest chance our group had for survival, and Catalyna had to know that. If we couldn’t return to Nevaria, then we could only press onward.
“Yes…” Catalyna sighed. “Yes, you are right. This really is the only option we have right now. Okay! That’s what we’ll do.”
“Now all I need to do is decide who should remain with me to draw off the Demon Beasts,” I said. “I can only take one person. We’ll cause a huge ruckus, kill as many Demon Beasts as we can, and then run in the opposite direction you guys are heading.”
“That sounds dangerous,” Fay hedged.
I shrugged. “We’re already in danger.”
Fay could say nothing to argue with that, so I quickly thought about who among this group should stay with me. Of course, there were only three people I’d accept. Kari, Lin, or Fay. Kari and Fay were both incredibly strong, while Lin had the benefit of her Lamia-given strength, which included unnaturally large reserves of Spiritual Power. Two of them would have to remain with this group to protect them in the event they ran into Demon Beasts during their travels, so only one could come with me.
“I think Fay should stay with you,” Kari said, causing everyone, even Fay, to stare at her in shock. She gave me a helpless smile like she was struggling with something. “As much as I would like to volunteer myself, I know that Fay is currently stronger than me, so she won’t drag you down as much.”
We didn’t really have time to argue, so I accepted her explanation and agreed that Fay was the best choice. For her part, Fay looked completely unsure of herself. She stared at Kari, then at me, then looked down at the blood-soaked ground. Her shoulders were shaking.
“I... I don’t know how much help I can be,” she confessed. “I don’t think I’m strong enough to protect you
.”
I had seen this unconfident side of her many times, so I knew it stemmed from her inferiority complex toward Kari. It affected her even now, even after we resolved the issues between us, to the point where I’d begun to think it had become so ingrained into her psyche that it had become an inextricable part of her.
I placed my hands on her shoulders and stared into Fay’s trembling green eyes, trying to convey my confidence in her through touch and eye contact.
“You are,” I said simply. “I know you are.”
Fay’s lips trembled a little. After several seconds had passed, she nodded. “O-okay. I’ll do my best.”
“That will be enough.” I gave her what I hoped was a reassuring smile.
There was no more time to dally after the decision had been made. I could hear the howls and growls of more Demon Beasts coming closer, and some of them were the familiar, air-rending shrieks of Pteranodons, which meant we’d have to deal with attacks from the air if we didn’t move soon.
After salvaging what I could from our tent, I found that the alchemy pills had been spared its destruction. It looked like the large pack that I carried everything in had been kicked away but not trampled. The alchemy pills were inside.
I had everyone, including myself, take one of each pill, then handed more than half of them to Catalyna and told her to hand them out whenever someone needed one. There were enough inside that they could afford to be wasteful. Catalyna nodded and wished me and Fay good luck, then she and everyone else began to move.
As Fay and I watched Kari and Lin head off with the others, my partner turned to me.
“Are you sure this was wise? Splitting up like this, I mean.”
“It isn’t.” I gave her a helpless smile. “But it’s also the only choice we have. Out of everyone here, I’m the most likely to survive against a horde of Demon Beasts, so I was the obvious choice. And Kari was right about you. You’ve trained with me longer than anyone else. Not only are you stronger from a purely physical standpoint, but you know how I fight better than anyone. I think we can survive this so long as we’re together.”
Fay was only wearing one gauntlet now, her left gauntlet having been crushed at some point during the fight. The wound was healed already; I had used the water element to patch her up. She reached out with this now healed hand, and I reached back, gripping her hand tightly. There was no embarrassment or hesitation in her actions just then.
“Eryk,” she said in a serious voice. “If… if we don’t make it out of this, I want you to know that I really, truly love you.”
I could have said something cool during this moment like “There’s no way we’ll die!” or “Even if I die, I’ll make sure you live!” but honestly, I found such lines to be trite and insensitive. They wouldn’t help us here. What’s more, even if I had confidence in myself, there was still a very real possibility that one or both of us would die.
So what I said instead was…
“I love you too, Fay.”
Fay smiled at me.
A Demon Beast appeared to bar their path. It came from around a slope, its rugged paws digging gouges into the ground as it moved forward on four muscular limbs covered in fur. Werecat. It was a C-Rank Demon Beast with a feline muzzle, long tusks jutting from its mouth, and a long tail with a barbed tip.
Before the others could respond, Kari darted up the dirt-covered slope, skimming over the ground on light feet. She met the Werecat head-on, thrusting her spear forward. Her relentless—and maybe even reckless—attack was rewarded. This Werecat’s forward momentum kept it from being able to change directions, and as the Demon Beast impaled itself upon her ranseur, she used the strength she had acquired from training with Eryk and Fay to lift the now-dead carcass and toss it over the side of the mountain.
The others caught up to her by this point. All of them stared at her in astonishment, but she felt they should have been used to this by now.
As she began running again, Catalyna rushed up to her side.
“Excellent work. Do you need any alchemy pills?”
Kari shook her head. “Not right now. Thanks, though.”
It had been half a day since they split up with Eryk and Fay and began running toward the ruins located on Catalyna’s map. They had made it out of the jungle several hours ago. Beyond the jungle had been a mostly deserted mountain pass with a lot of boulders strewn about the ground. Of course, it had looked deserted, but there were plenty of D and C-Rank Demon Beasts lurking around to cause trouble.
What should have taken one day to pass through the desert region had only taken about six hours thanks to their nonstop running. They trekked through the area covered in boulders four or even five times larger than they were tall, on the lookout for Demon Beast attacks. As the two strongest members in their group, Kari and Lin were the ones who took on the bulk of the work, fighting against any Demon Beast that tried to attack them with ranseur, whips, and tail.
Night turned to day. After traveling through the desert region, they came upon the slope of a mountain trail, which Catalyna said would lead to the ruins. Kari wasn’t sure how long they had been traveling; she wasn’t sure how far they had traveled either. All she knew was that her ranseur felt heavy in her hands despite having consumed an uncountable number of alchemy pills.
The mountain pass they were on wound around the mountainside as it traveled up. The pass was steep in some areas and almost flat in others. There were occasions where everyone was forced to climb up rocky cliffs to reach the next stage. Quite a few of these cliff faces looked like they might have once been stairs, but they’d fallen into such disrepair that it was hard to figure out whether they really were stairs or just looked like them.
Kari and Lin were no longer at the rear. Since they were running toward their destination, their strength was needed to push through enemies in the front rather than protect everyone against enemies from the back. Marko and Finn were in the back to protect their flanks.
Everyone had been affected by the chase through the jungle, the desert, and now the mountain path. When she looked at her group of companions, she could see the bags under their eyes. Shoulders drooped as though a weight was pushing down on them, faces appeared gaunt and starving from lack of food and energy, and many were beginning to lag behind.
They had been relying on Eryk’s alchemy pills to keep them going. It was true these pills gave them endurance, clarity, and boosted their Spiritual Power, but not even the most potent pill could completely negate a lack of sleep and food. The most they had been able to eat were some rations that Catalyna had the foresight to bring with her. It wasn’t enough to fill them up.
“This princess sees something!” Lin suddenly exclaimed. Kari shook the cobwebs from her head and looked where Lin was pointing.
A pair of large columns stood on either side of the pass, broken and desolate, but definitely not something nature could create. Kari quickened her pace and stopped beside one of the columns. It towered over her. This pillar was so much larger than anything she had ever seen that it made even the rampart surrounding Nevaria seem small. She pressed her hand against it. The stone used to create this structure was worn, but she could make out runes that had been etched into the surface.
“This definitely belongs to a ruin of some kind,” she said. “Only ruins would have something like this marking the way.” She turned to Catalyna. “How much further?”
“Not far now,” Catalyna said. “We should reach it in less than a day.”
While less than a day didn’t sound bad, everyone there felt like complaining, evident from the way they groaned. They had been running at a sprint nonstop for over a day now. The human body was not made to move without eating and sleeping for so long, pills or no pills.
“Then let’s keep moving,” Kari said.
No one argued with her and the group moved on with Kari and Lin in the lead. Though their pace had slowed considerably, they at least didn’t stop. Kari winced as a dull throb entered her lef
t shoulder, which had been carrying the weight of her ranseur this whole time. As she switched hands, she glanced at Lin.
While also covered in some cuts and bruises, the Lamia girl looked to be in far better shape than anyone else. This was despite how she had been at the front lines, fighting nonstop just like Kari. She slithered along the ground with complete ease. Her face didn’t show any fatigue or strain like it did the others.
“How is it that you still have so much energy?” asked Kari. “I know for a fact that you haven’t taken more than two Endurance Pills since we began running.”
“Lamia are naturally more resilient than humans,” Lin answered. “Our bodies are stronger and we can survive in harsh environments without food, water, or rest for a lot longer.”
“Is that so? I’m kind of jealous,” she said.
“Hmhmhm.” Lin released a little laugh as she crossed her arms, though she didn’t stop moving. Her tail moved in a zigzag pattern that propelled her along the ground faster than a human could walk. “You should be. This princess has an incredible body that just won’t quit. No matter what life throws at her, this princess will never stop until she has Darling’s babies.”
“I could have done without that last statement,” Kari said, though she was also smiling. Lin’s upbeat attitude was having a positive effect on her, making it feel like she could keep going.
The others didn’t seem to feel the same way. Several of the Spiritualists traveling with them glared at Lin like she was the cause of all their problems, which was of course ridiculous, but they didn’t seem to care. Kari would have glared back, but she didn’t want to waste energy. She kept her eyes up front and focused entirely on protecting their group and reaching the ruins.
This area didn’t seem to have as many Demon Beasts. They had only run into that one Werecat so far. Yet as they continued wandering, Kari couldn’t help but shiver. She glanced around. The large cliffs on their right stretched into the sky without limit. On their left was a large drop of at least several dozen meters. Nothing stood out to her that seemed unusual, but it was impossible to shake the feeling of predatory eyes on her.
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