by TurtleMe
Landing deftly on her feet, Caria regained her balance, shaking the blood off of her metal gauntlets before bolting off into another direction.
An agonizing growl behind me caught my attention. Turning around, I got a glimpse of Tessia taking down a pair of orcs and a large gnoll. She was a flurry of blades as she zipped from beast to beast. Each step, each swing, had a purpose as she slashed and lunged at gnolls as if in a choreographed dance.
Every time I saw her fight, I couldn’t help but grow amazed. I had always been jealous of Darvus and Caria for their innate talents in mana manipulation and fighting prowess, but Tessia’s skill and grace was at a level where one could only revere.
“It’s about time you made yourself useful, right Stannard?” Darvus called out as he pried out a hatchet from the skull of a dead orc.
“Shut it!” I retorted with a smile. “How about we start mobbing them up?”
I took out a large beast core that radiated an orange-red glow.
“Conjurer cross-fire!” Darvus yelled out in warning to the other soldiers that would be in range as he began herding a group of orcs.
The rest of the soldiers knew what to do as some began backing out of the way while others veered their opponents toward my line of fire.
A rather large conjurer approached me and gave a meaningful nod as he raised his staff in preparation as well. Soon, a few more conjurers joined while we all readied our attacks as more and more orcs and gnolls got herded toward the center of the dim cavern.
The few strays that had managed to break away from the group were quickly hacked down by the augmenters protecting us.
Taking a deep breath, I loaded the glowing beast core into my mana launcher. Steadying the tip of my weapon at the center of the mass of gnolls and orcs guarding their cavern, I waited for the signal.
A deep, baritone voice called out from the edge of the group as a soldier hacked and pushed a stray gnoll into the cluster of beasts that had been herded. “All clear!”
The conjurers positioned around me all fired off their most powerful spells at the mass as I waited calmly for the right timing. Just as the last spell shot out at the monsters, I launched my spell.
[Hell’s Prison]
The recoil from firing the sphere of fire three times my size sent me tumbling back into the cavern wall. The burning orb of fire grew in size as it advanced towards the group of orcs trying to escape, but they couldn’t make it in time as the blaze encompassed them and the spells that the conjurers had cast.
The flaming sphere diminished to reveal the charred remains of the few dozen mana beasts that had been trapped within, sending out a wave of cheers from the rest of the soldiers. The few scattered mana beasts were easily dealt with by the augmenters, giving me a few minutes to breathe.
“Good job, you peculiar little mage.” Darvus winked at me as he helped me back on my feet. There had been around twice as many mana beasts as there were soldiers, but by the end of the battle, we had incurred less than ten deaths.
“This was an overwhelming triumph, despite the surprise attack that the army of mana beasts laid down on us,” Dresh’s firm and commanding voice echoed throughout the cavern. “Let’s not let our comrades’ deaths be in vain and continue forth!”
A fervent cheer resounded from the soldiers, including Darvus and Caria. Tess merely cleaned her blade and sheathed it back with a solemn face. Her hollow turquoise eyes followed an elf being carried back through the portal we had come through, staring intently at the jagged spear protruding out of the lifeless elf’s back.
I didn’t know whether Tessia had known that elf, but I couldn’t help but empathize with her.
Was this truly a victory if, to some people, the weight of those ten deaths mean so much more than a simple number count?
Chapter 133: Beyond The Door
From the tense and gloomy air within the cavern, it was obvious that this battle had caught all of us by surprise. We were usually all capable in battle, but these past few months of repetitive excursions—hoping to find any signs that a mutant might be close—had left us dull and sloppy.
A few teams had already regrouped and were taking a rest while the injured and deceased were sent back to be properly cared for. Some of the more restless augmenters were sharpening their blades while conjurers sat still in meditation to be in top shape for whatever lay ahead of us.
As our young leader continued surveying the battlegrounds like a zombie, I finally called out for her to join us.
“What’s wrong?” I questioned. “Are you okay, Tessia?”
Her face turned to us as she revealed a faint, and obviously forced, smile. “It’s nothing. It’s good that we won… but we still ended up letting almost ten soldiers die.”
“Our ever-so-compassionate princess exuding kindness and grace to us peasants!” Darvus cried out. “We are not worthy!”
“Zip it,” Tessia quipped, her voice coming out a lot softer than usual.
“We did our best,” Caria consoled, gently patting her back.
“She’s right, Tessia. It’s impossible to save them all,” I added. However, rather than comforting her, it seemed to have the opposite effect, as her expression dropped.
“I guess you’re right. I can’t save them all,” she repeated glumly.
“Nice going,” Darvus whispered beside me.
“Hey! It was better than your sarcastic remark,” I retorted in a hushed voice.
“At this rate, I’ll only bring him down,” Tessia continued, almost too quiet for us to hear.
“By him, do you mean that guy you’re always talking about? Arthur, was it?” Caria chimed, leaning in, eager to hear about the boy Tessia depicted as some fantastical hero out of a children’s book.
“Ugh, not him again,” Darvus groaned. “Princess, when are you going to snap out of that delusion of yours?”
Tessia calmly shook her head. “It’s not like that.”
“What do you mean?” Darvus continued. “You describe him as if he’s some all-powerful, charismatic hotshot without a single humanly flaw.”
“Oh please. You’re just jealous because Arthur is everything you wish you could be, plus better-looking,” Caria accused. She then turned back to Tessia, eyes twinkling. “Is he really that handsome and charming?”
“I guess,” Tessia giggled. “He was pretty popular in school, although I doubted he knew that.”
“I’m hating the guy more and more,” Darvus grumbled.
Tessia shook her head. “He isn’t without flaws, though. Honestly, Arthur was kind of scary when I first met him.”
“You said he saved you from the slave traders after you ran away from home, right?” Caria confirmed.
“Y-Yeah.” Tessia’s face reddened at the embarrassing memory. “He did save me, though I felt like it wasn’t really out of the goodness of his heart, but some logical scheme. Of course, I was only a child back then so I could be wrong, but Arthur had always had this scary side of him where he seemed cold—heartless, even.”
“Ooh, a bad boy,” Caria cooed.
“I’m going to barf,” Darvus gagged. “If you ask me, he doesn’t seem like that great of a guy. I mean, he left you alone in danger a few times, right? And he went off on his own after you got kidnapped by that Alacryan mage that invaded Xyrus Academy! He didn’t even make sure you were okay and went off to who knows where.”
“He checked in with Grandpa to make sure I was okay, but he was in a hurry,” Tessia reasoned, her head lowering.
“Oh right, to go ‘train’ somewhere in secret.” Darvus rolled his eyes. “If you ask me, he just ran away from the war because he was afraid he would die.”
I took a peek at Tessia’s expression, afraid that she would be mad, but our leader was calm. “You’re wrong, Darvus. Arthur may be a bit clueless when it comes to expressing or even handling emotions, and a bit naive in some other aspects”—Tessia’s cheeks blushed ever-so-slightly—“but he’s not one to run away in fear; his de
sire to protect his loved ones is too strong for that.”
“Yes, yes. Arthur will be the hero that saves us from the wrath of the Alacryans,” Darvus sighed, conceding from Tessia’s determined gaze.
“He can’t be that strong though, right?” I asked. I had grown more and more curious about the boy Tessia cherished to such a degree.
Our leader’s lips curled into a smirk as she gazed afar. “He’s strong.”
“Well, I can’t wait to meet him!” Caria added. “You will introduce us to him, right?”
“Yeah.” Tessia’s smile dimmed. “Hopefully that time comes soon.”
Darvus shook his head, hugging himself. “Blech. You can count me out! I feel like I already know the guy way too much. Besides, after fighting alongside me for so long, I bet the guy will only look like some second-rate mage.”
“Is there a limit to how pretentious you can be?” Caria shook her head, eliciting a chuckle from me.
We got up after noticing that the rest of the teams had gotten reorganized. After Dresh finished counting the heads of the team leaders, we departed through the dark corridor on the far end of the cavern.
As the teams began marching into the narrow hallway, they were swallowed up by the shadows. Our team went in next, and it was shocking how the atmosphere changed so drastically once we stepped foot. The air was dry, still, and somewhat sour as the only sound that echoed along these walls was the sound of footsteps.
I was barely able to discern the figures of the soldiers ahead of us, the tiny light from someone in the front bobbing in the distance. I looked back in confusion; the light from the cavern we had just come from seemed to retract from the hallway.
“This is some spooky crap,” Darvus’s hushed voice echoed from behind.
“Tell me about it,” I said. Some of the other conjurers ahead of us tried to illuminate the hallway with a spell, but whatever orb of light they conjured were soon eaten away by the darkness.
“It looks like only the illuminating artifact up in the front works in this place,” Caria said from my side.
Tessia, who was ahead of us by a few steps continued walking, unaffected by the unnatural absence of light.
As we continued walking, the light from the cavern we had come from dwindled into a speck. Everyone walked in silence or hushed whispers, paying attention to our footing and the bobbing orb of light guiding our way.
It felt like we had marched for hours when another speck of light came to view. The orange light from the illuminating artifact stopped as Dresh spoke once more.
Our expedition leader spoke in a low voice, afraid that the mana beast would pick up on our conversation despite how far away we were. “We’ll soon arrive where Sayer, our scout, and his team had arrived before his team was ambushed by mana beasts. From what he had witnessed, we are to expect at least a few hundred gnolls and orcs, some larger than the ones we had faced up until now. Prepare your bodies and hearts, and may the ones watching over us be with you.”
We broke into a steady jog, the white light growing larger as we advanced through the dark corridor. Luckily, the ground was pretty even; if anyone ahead of us tripped, it would undoubtedly create a domino reaction.
The speed of the bobbing orange light ahead of us grew faster as we began picking up the pace until, finally, the illuminating light was almost upon us.
After being in almost total darkness, my eyes had to adjust as I stepped out of the corridor. I brandished my mana launcher, ready to blow apart anything that came my way.
However, my anticipation for a battle had gone to waste as all that lay before us were bodies sprawled on the ground and an eerie stillness.
Hundreds of orc and gnoll bodies lay scattered, massacred by the hundreds. I had to look at my feet to keep myself from accidentally stepping on a severed limb or body of a dead beast as I tried to deduce what had happened here.
I looked around, somewhat comforted by the fact that everyone else was just as confused as I was.
“What in the world?” Dresh’s head wouldn’t stop turning as he scoured the cavern, his hands gripping his longsword.
“I’m not sure whether to be relieved or scared at this,” Darvus said, his brow furrowed in suspicion.
“To the door!” Dresh commanded, snapping out of his daze.
All heads turned to face the towering doors at the other end of the circular cavern. The only impressive thing about the double doors were their towering size. The metal that covered them was thick and covered with dents and scratches, making it seem ancient and threatening.
As we all headed towards what we presumed was the den of the mutant, the tension began to rise. No one spoke as we all stood around the large doors that each spanned over five meters in width. The hundred or so that were left of us took position in a semicircle around the doors, all braced to attack or defend, as ten augmenters positioned themselves to haul the entrance open.
“The door,” one of the men voiced. “It’s not fully closed.”
Everyone looked at one another, perplexed by the strange chain of events, but Dresh snapped everyone to attention with a firm stomp.
“Open it!” he ordered, lowering his stance to combat whatever lied in store on the other side.
The harsh screech of the metal doors against the stone ground echoed until they had been completely pried apart.
For a brief moment, not a single word was spoken as the entirety of the soldiers ready to fight for their lives stood frozen, jaws slack.
Atop a hill of corpses that loomed high above us sat a lone man. His arms rested on the hilt of a thin, teal sword that shined dimly beneath a layer of blood that had come from the body of the orc it had been embedded in. Scattered beneath this mountain of carcasses were more bodies of orcs and gnoll, some frozen, some burned, others simply bisected.
At first glance, the pile of corpses that the man was resting over seemed to blend together into indiscernible remains of mana beasts, but looking closer, there was a figure near the top that stood out amongst the others. With the head of a giant lion and the body of a scaled monster, it lay sprawled in a bloodied mess. Its gray body was lifeless as the unnaturally black horns that sprouted out of its head had been shattered.
There was no doubt about it. That was the S class mutant we had ventured all this way for, that we had laid down our lives for—except it was already dead.
I focused my gaze back at the man, sitting tiredly atop a throne of corpses, when he finally lifted his head.
The man wasn’t even staring directly at me, yet I could feel his domineering pressure weigh down on my very soul. Every fiber in my body screamed at me to run away as far as possible from this man. My sense of fear became magnified as the man’s azure eyes gleamed balefully from above.
This wasn’t anything like the diminutive fear I had felt back at the tent; no, this was true dread.
I knew—and most likely everyone in here knew as well—that advantage in numbers didn’t apply to someone like him.
From my side, I spotted a figure stepping forward. I almost lashed out in fear for the person’s life when I realized it was Tessia. Suddenly, the dread that had overcome me grew stronger as I hopelessly stood, frozen from the unbreakable shackles of terror, as Tessia took another step forward.
Time itself seemed to slow as our leader dropped the thin blade in her hand. A single tear rolled down Tessia’s cheek as her face contorted into a mix of different emotions.
She uttered a single word that left me more overwhelmed than the man sitting on top of the mountain of corpses. “Art?”
Chapter 134: His Return
Tessia took another step forward, less hesitant this time. “A-Arthur? Is that you?” she muttered once more, her voice getting caught in her throat.
Every one of the soldiers, augmenters and conjurers alike, had their heads turned to face our leader as she approached the man sitting atop the hill of corpses, as if in a trance.
Suddenly, the silence that had filled the
cavern was broken by a bright chirp. Seeming to come out of nowhere, a streak of white shot out towards Tessia and landed in her arms.
It looked like some sort of miniature white fox.
“Sylvie!” Tessia, exclaimed, embracing the creature before looking back up.
“Y-You! State your name!” Dresh was the one to speak, his usually confident voice wavering at the sight before him.
The blue-eyed man regarded him in silence for a moment, making Dresh instinctively take a step back, before he answered. “Arthur Leywin.”
Prying his bloodied sword out of the corpse it was embedded into, he deftly leaped down the large mound of bodies, landing in front of the large doorway.
As he stepped out of the shadows, I could finally make out his full appearance that had been shrouded in darkness.
He appeared pretty young despite the aura that emanated from him. Tousled, shoulder-length auburn hair contrasted his bright eyes that seemed composed—casual, almost—even in this situation. The splatters of blood and grime that darkened his face and clothes did nothing to diminish his looks.
This man wasn’t glamorous. Nothing like the noblemen I’d seen, who carried themselves with chests puffed out and nose pointed so high up that they might as well have been looking at the sky. No, behind his nonchalant gaze and slightly curled lips was an air of sovereignty that transcended any of those peacock nobles fluttering their power like colorful plumage.”
Sheathing his teal sword into an unadorned black scabbard, he took a step toward us with his hands held up. “I’m on your side,” he said wearily.
The soldiers present all exchanged uncertain glances at one another as Tessia took another step forward.
“Arthur?” several members of the Twin Horns exclaimed as they all ran up to them.
However, Tessia remained where she was. I saw them lock eyes for a brief moment and I thought I even saw a faint smile from Arthur, but neither of them approached each other.
Tessia’s actions caught me off guard, but the way the Twin Horns acted with the guy named Arthur seemed to dissipate the tension and suspicion that had filled the cavern. However, this only brought on more questions in my head.