The smell of burned flesh struck harder than the blade.
My enemy was faster and a lot more experienced than the young Caldera had been. He wasn’t quite comparable with a physically attributed Evolved beast, but the Caldera was close to it. Or, and I really didn’t want to think of the implication that would cause, my enemy was holding back.
Flames burst out of the blade as it carved through my leather breastplate with ease, only to slice through skin and bits of flesh as well. It hurt, and a pained scream escaped my lips as I stumbled backward, but adrenaline erupted from the depths of my body, and the pain faded into the background.
Angry and mostly frustrated about the situation, I locked onto my enemy, pushing Predator to its limits. Several weak points unraveled before my eyes as the Caldera brandished his sword for a second strike. His blazing body shot forward, and so did I, sword at the ready.
Paralysis triggered, draining a good chunk of my reserves, when the Caldera was in my face. His eyes narrowed, and the flames coating both body and blade became unstable. He stopped in his tracks and nearly stumbled to the ground. My blade whipped forward and would have carved a deep gash into his chest if the Caldera hadn’t regained his senses a moment too soon.
He twisted his body, escaped my blade with a nick, and leaped to the side, rolling across the ground before pressing his feet firmly down to jump to his feet–if there had been any soil to push against. Predator showed me a weak point, which I’d expanded upon with the Earthen Aspect, creating small holes when the Caldera was about to escape my range of attack. That, however, failed miserably.
He used too much force to press against the soil when there was no more soil to begin with and stumbled to the ground. I was already upon him, blade carving through the air, when a wave of heat smacked my face. A glaive appeared between the silvernit sword and the Caldera, blocking my blade before I could slash through his neck.
The Caldera spun around, sword still ablaze, snarling something in a tongue I couldn’t understand. He leaped to his feet, his crimson orbs locked onto me, seemingly not realizing that the glaive-wielding Caldera woman had intercepted, saving him from certain death. He snarled at me, flames leaking from his body, but before he could attack again, the Caldera woman stepped forward. My hair stood on end as a heavy weight pressed on me.
The temperature in the vicinity seemed to increase once more, so much of my sweat evaporated. Breathing was even more painful than before, but so was enduring the heavy pressure that had descended upon me and the other Caldera. The glaive-wielder glanced at me for no more than a moment before she turned to the Caldera I’d faced until a moment ago. Her hand shot forward, and her fingers coiled around his neck.
She lifted him into the air, her grip tightening. The Caldera’s battle spirit deflated. It faded rapidly, like the flames coating his body and blade. They dispersed into the surroundings. The temperature dropped slightly, but it was not until the Caldera said something to the woman that she retracted the heavy pressure.
She still didn’t release the Caldera even as he croaked and twisted, gasping for air. Instead, she turned to me, pressing the flat side of her glaive against her forehead.
“Spirit of Volca. Talented. But he is young–spoiled,” she rasped in a coarse, heavy accent I could barely decipher. It was hard to imagine someone tearing apart our beautiful language so much, but… honestly? I was kind of impressed that they could speak it at all.
That is odd though. Our relationship with other races is said to be bad, isn’t it? So why are they learning our language… and why haven’t I seen any classes about theirs?
My heart skipped a beat at the thought of learning more about other races. Sure, I was more than a little scared of facing the tall Caldera woman. She looked positively scary as hell, but she was also badass. There was no denying it. She was powerful, charismatic, and her people could literally set themselves on fire. If that wasn’t cool, I didn’t know what was.
Impressed too easily!
Aureus commented inwardly, and I couldn’t even deny that. But who wouldn’t be impressed? Only fools would ignore other races trying to speak our tongue.
I tried to regulate my heartbeat, but it was to no avail. Instead, I retracted the silvernit sword and pressed the flat side against my forehead, hoping I’d interpreted the action correctly.
“He is strong. A worthy Katrak,” I responded with a faint smile, quietly praying Katrak meant something like “challenge” or “honorable opponent” or something along those lines.
The Caldera woman seemed satisfied enough with my decorum and released the young one. He slumped to the ground like a sack of potatoes and stayed there gasping for air for a while. The woman nodded toward me, turned to Scott and the others, pressed the flat side of her glaive against her forehead, and returned to her own people.
She shouted something at them and had them carry their deceased and the two Unblemished beast carcasses before leaving.
Aureus emerged as the Calderas departed, his golden pupils lingering on the Caldera woman.
She impressive indeed.
“Ah, so now it is fine to be impressed? You little hypocrite!” I snickered, bending down to pat the Earthheart. I hardly noticed the young Caldera I’d fought a minute ago. He was still there, taking deep breaths until he realized that the others had left without him. As if stung by a bee, he scrambled to his feet. But before he could leave to join the others, Aureus rushed past him. His eyes widened, and the crimson orbs flicked toward me and lingered, uttering words I couldn’t understand.
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Scott and the others got up and approached me, which told the Caldera that it was about time for him to leave. And that he did. He disappeared into the thicket.
“That… What was that even?” Sophie asked, still tending to Fabienne.
Although Fabienne had been wounded quite a few times, none of her injuries were lethal.
“A spar? A challenge maybe?” Daniel mouthed, but he sounded anything but certain.
Scott squirmed uncomfortably as all eyes turned to him. “Why are you all looking my way? I have no idea. I was certain she’d kill me. She could have, yet she didn’t.”
They didn’t want to kill us. If anything, they wanted to test our strength. At least, that was what it felt like.
“At least we’re alive,” I grimaced and turned to Fabienne in worry. She’d survive, but I wasn’t quite sure about her mental health.
Fabienne trembled and flinched every time Sophie touched her to apply healing balm and bandages.
“We haven’t made it out yet,” Daniel pointed out. He cleared his throat. “That being said, we better leave as soon as possible. Today’s been troublesome enough. I want to finish this damn mission and get some rest.”
Even though he sounded displeased, frustrated even, Daniel was smiling. He was thrilled.
“Let’s leave,” Scott agreed. “But I think we won’t get any rest for a while. The Grand Camp will want to hear about this. There shouldn’t be any other races in several hundred kilometers around the Grand Camp.”
Daniel groaned but nodded anyway.
“Do you think we’ll be rewarded?” I asked right as Aureus returned from his little trip through the battlefield.
Using Earth Sense, the Earthheart had found something–a pouch. He carried it in his maw, so I took it upon myself to pick it up and open it.
***
The pouch was nothing special. It was tough and probably resistant to the Caldera’s fire, since they carried it while their flames and weaponry were engulfed, but that was about it.
It contained a handful of rare ether plants, ember shards, and some other valuable materials that could only be found in the Elemental Spires, but that was about it. And, of course, there was one ember shard that looked more like a token. It was engraved with a few odd hieroglyphs, but they didn’t form into an ether circuit. Maybe they were letters, but we weren’t so sure about that.
One way or another, we escaped the Giant Forest and returned to the relative safety of the Grand Camp. Once back in safety, I took a few pictures of the token and added them to the report Scott prepared alongside Daniel. I kept the token and the other goodies to myself, not that anyone cared at this point.
Our encounter with another race had been… confusing, to say the least. Their departure didn’t answer any questions either. If anything, it opened more questions that remained unanswered.
“Why were they in the Giant Forest?” Daniel had asked the moment we left, but Sophie was the more pressing question.
“Why didn’t they kill us?”
Fabienne shuddered, but her lips had parted as well. “How–…”
She trembled and collapsed, ushering Sophie to carry her to the infirmary with hurried steps.
While Sophie tended to Fabienne, Scott forced Daniel to prepare the report for the Council and the Grand Camp’s leadership with him. I was quite happy about that, though Scott forced other work on me. I was to register the completion of our mission, which took me no more than half an hour.
Close to 5,000 coins for everyone, access to special training equipment, and a few more valuable materials, including two Intermediate Serums, were given to us, but I only claimed the marks for now. With three out of ten marks, we weren’t doing exceptionally, but our progress was good enough to push us closer to our goal–Scott’s goal.
“Are those rewards really worth it?” I wondered, staring at the list of items and coins I could claim.
There was no doubt about it; the mission had been dangerous, incredibly so. But as dangerous as it was, the rewards were generous. Not only that, but I’d managed to collect a lot more valuable ether plants. Two dozen Evolved ether plants, as well as five Unblemished plants that had been properly harvested and preserved. We’d earn more than 10,000 Camp Coins from those. As far as I could tell, our finances would shoot through the roof. That was great. It was exceptional… but why was I so unhappy?
Danger brings reward.
Aureus tried to explain, showering me with emotions, memories, and images.
“I know. There are no free rewards outside the safety zones. And every opportunity brings great danger. Threats that could end our lives–just like that.” I sighed deeply. We earned a lot, but we were lucky.
What if we’re not that lucky next time?
In that case, the next time would be our last time.
I shook my head, trying to dispel the thoughts tainting my mind. “At least, we now know why the Giant Forest is in such disarray.”
The Caldera disrupted the ecosystem, which was all the more reason to stay away from the Giant Forest. Scott wouldn’t like that, but I cared very little about his plan. I’d rather leap into the Stone Gorge than return to the Giant Forest. At least, for now.
“Back to organizing,” I reminded myself, returning my attention to studying the plants we’d harvested. I examined each and every plant, added their name to the list of items we’d collected, and reorganized them neatly.
Once done, my stomach growled, which was only overlapped by Aureus and Nox begging for more food. I ate alone for the first time in a long time, trained a little, and refined my World. At last, I went to sleep. Or I tried to sleep.
Lying in bed, staring at the ceiling while listening to the soft breathing of my roommates, I could only curse myself and my hyperactive brain. I was tired, mentally and physically exhausted after I pushed my body to its very limit, yet my brain forced me to revisit the events of the day.
I had many things to think about. To take care of as well. But I was aware of that. I knew I had to pay more attention to Nox and train him more actively–differently than I trained with Aureus. Then there was all the trouble about the Giant Forest and the Caldera.
Last but not least, my brain settled on the fact that we could have died half a dozen times in the Giant Forest. It was one thing to fight your foes head-on, to know that you had a chance at survival. And then there was the enemy that couldn’t be defeated. The impossible odds.
Memories of the clash between the Treant and the Cyclops flashed through my mind. If the Unblemished beast had attacked us instead of each other…
I shuddered. Even though I’d grown much stronger in the last two weeks, I was still weak. Too weak to feel safe in the Grand Camp, let alone Razarn as a whole.