“Get the hell out of here!” Scott hissed.
He turned to us, looking positively scared to death, and charged in our direction.
“Wasn’t I clear enough? MOVE!” he snapped when we didn’t react. The ground shook from one moment to the next, and a massive figure emerged out of nowhere. I barely caught a glimpse of the towering creature, but that was more than enough to scare the living hell out of me.
A ten-meter-tall humanoid figure tore through the undergrowth as easily as we walked through grass. One wide and bulging eyeball popped out of the beast’s abnormally large head, and I was suddenly very certain that a single glance would be enough to paralyze me temporarily. Not because of a trait or anything. No, it was merely the beast’s wrath that forced me to a screeching halt even though it wasn’t even close to us.
More than twenty meters and several colossal trees separated us from the towering humanoid, but there was no way that was enough to escape if the humanoid beast had been interested in us. Our greatest fortune was the beast’s disinterest in our existence.
It didn’t even look in our direction as its massive fists smashed into… what in the Rulers’ Names was that even?
It looked like roots, branches, bark, and foliage, but something was wrong with it. The roots were moving and coiled around the humanoid beast’s waist and limbs. They spread out rapidly, slowing the towering humanoid even as its fists smashed into bark and the trunk lying underneath. The bark was nowhere near strong enough to resist the impact. It exploded and splintered everywhere, yet, as shocking as it was, the fist was stopped by the tree trunk beneath. Deep imprints remained, but the trunk didn’t shatter.
A roar reverberated through the surroundings, and my body froze against my wishes. Even Scott seemed affected by the roar. His eyes glowed milky-white for a moment, and he let out a curse before accelerating. He released a burst of ether as he reached Daniel and Sophie, pulling them out of their stupor before doing the same to me and Fabienne.
“Move, move, move!” he urged us, but my eyes lingered on the beasts engaged in a titan’s fight. The humanoid ripped several roots apart, but the moving tree didn’t seem to care all too much. More roots sprouted from the stumps. At the same time, the unscathed roots coiled around the beast’s limbs and tightened. They tore into the humanoid beast’s hide and seeped inside, sending the beast into a frenzy. The fight reached a new level as wild ferocity replaced calm patience. The humanoid tore desperately through the moving tree and stumbled in our direction.
That was all I needed to know that Scott was right. I followed the others, but not before Scott reached me to pull me away from the towering monstrosities.
“What are those?!” I blurted out aghast, while dragging my feet to keep up with Scott.
“Use Boon!” Scott snapped at Fabienne, who tripped over a root. She shrieked, but Scott was there to catch her. He disappeared from my side, a burst of ether strong enough to nearly knock me to the ground erupting from his body. “Now!”
I almost forgot how strong Scott was. He was almost an Expert. If not for Destiny holding him back, Scott would have been an Expert by now.
We hadn’t talked about it since that day on the deck of the flying ship, but his World was massive. I knew that, but feeling the immense amount of ether he unleashed at times showed just how strong he was.
His World was massive, meaning he not only had mountains of soul energy at his disposal. No, he had a massive core as well. As long as his core was filled to the brim, Scott had as much ether as a Ruler. Sure, it wouldn’t replenish as fast, and the quality of his ether was a lot weaker than a Ruler’s, but did that really matter? Scott was already a powerhouse, and I wasn’t quite sure if I wanted to know how much ether he’d poured into that spear of his to kill the Lionaer Fiend.
I… was just happy to have someone like him by my side. To be his friend.
The commotion behind us grew louder, but we rushed onward, following Scott. Fabienne’s Boon reached me at some point, and I accelerated once more, leaping across a few roots jutting from the ground and bursting through the thicket. A few beasts turned to us and attacked, but Scott was already upon them. He guided us through the forest, his and Destiny’s eyes glowing brightly the whole time.
His spear tore through the neck of a gorilla whose body was covered in heavy plates like a hot knife through butter, and the beast collapsed to the ground even before Fabienne and I reached it.
“Why were a Treant and a Cyclop fighting this close to the border?” Sophie asked, beads of sweat rolling down her cheeks.
“No idea,” Daniel answered. “Maybe it was a territorial fight? Or the fight started closer to the Giant Forest’s core, and they stumbled toward the outskirts. Does it really matter?”
Unlawfully taken from NovelFire, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Sophie didn’t answer, but she looked anything but satisfied with Daniel’s answers. She turned to Scott. However, he and his Soulkin were in their own world, doing… something.
Boon’s effect wore off, yet it wasn’t until ten minutes later that we finally stopped. Fabienne gasped for air, and so did I. Sophie’s hair was drenched in sweat and clung to her face. Even Daniel seemed a little tired. However, he appeared to be the least exhausted among the rest of us, as even Scott and Destiny gasped desperately for air. Destiny disappeared into Scott’s inner World, while his legs caved in. He slumped against a tree, his clothes drenched.
“M-Maybe… just maybe… this mission is a little bit too dangerous…” Scott snickered in between several heavy breaths.
“You think?” Daniel responded incredulously.
There was some tension in the air, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Daniel ripped Scott a new one now that he had the chance.
“At least we’re alive.” I stepped between them, wiping my wet, sticky hair out of my face. After struggling with my hair for a second, I pulled it back into a ponytail. “We are unscathed, and we weren’t separated either. I consider that a great win.”
Daniel furrowed his eyebrows at me, but his anger deflated as quickly as it flared up. “You’re right. We made it out alive.” His features soured as the words left his mouth. “Well, ‘made it out’ is probably not the right way to put it. We’re deeper in shit than before.”
“Daniel is right.” Scott sighed. “I won’t be able to use my traits too much for a few hours. It’d be best if I didn’t use them for the rest of the day, but I don’t think that’s possible. Anyway, we’re probably closer to the core region of the Giant Forest than the outskirts. I… had to push deeper, or other Unblemished beasts would have killed us.”
Nobody questioned the last part. Everyone was accustomed to a certain way Scott spoke about events. It was like he had witnessed them, as if he knew what disaster would have befallen us if we hadn’t followed his guidance. There was also the pain in his eyes – the suffering. As if he had lived through those events, even though they never happened.
“W-What… what are we doing now? P-Please d-don’t tell me you want us to stay here. We need to get out of here!” Fabienne half-shrieked, half-sobbed. She was hyperventilating, and Sophie had to get to her to calm her down.
Scott looked apologetic, but he shook his head. “We cannot get out of here. Not for a while. The beasts in the Unblemished Zone are in an uproar now. I have no idea what happened; however, it appears that the Grand Camp’s information network was incorrect. Neither Cyclop nor Treant territory should have been anywhere near us, but clearly–...”
He didn’t have to say more. We’d seen them.
“Since we’re already here…” I craned my neck and turned to look at the tiny clearing where we had stopped. “How about we harvest some ether plants?”
The others looked at me like I was the crazy one for suggesting we gather a bunch of flowers and other ether plants.
I just shrugged. “Isn’t that our mission?”
“Well, yeah, but…” Daniel started, but I intercepted.
“So how about we complete our mission and earn a fortune?” I glanced at Scott. “Or do we have to make a run for it?”
Scott’s eyes glowed momentarily; he groaned in pain, and blood trickled from the corner of his eyes.
“No, we’re fine here,” he said. A faint – albeit weak – smile formed on his lips as he pointed to the other side of the clearing. “I actually found the flowers we’re searching for.”
Scott looked at me in an odd way. Then again, it was not the first time he looked like that. Daniel walked to the other side of the clearing and returned several minutes later, empty-handed.
“I think you were mistaken. There’s nothing. Not even a low-ranked ether plant.”
Scott shook his head. “It’s there. Adam should look for it.”
“I should?”
I met Daniel’s eyes, but he only shrugged, so I walked over and began to search. Annoyance bubbled to the surface when I couldn’t find anything useful in ten minutes either. I was just about to return to the others when my senses perked up. Precisely, I felt a familiar tug from Aureus’ bond.
U deaf. Blind.
The Earthheart called to me, his disappointment palpable. Our bond was no longer restrained, though I wasn’t quite sure if the disappointment was better than being ignored. At least, I was no longer being ignored.
Aureus emerged next to me, his golden eyes judging.
Look and see.
The ground rippled as the words echoed in my mind. For a moment, I thought a powerful beast was about to attack. However, the ripples were too weak, too delicate, to come from a ferocious beast. That was Aureus’ doing. He sent ripples through the ground and walked off after a moment. He headed northeast until we reached the edge of the clearing, his eyes fixed on a spot of undergrowth beside a massive tree. The ground shuddered once more, stronger this time, and the undergrowth was forcefully pulled aside, revealing several flowers with petals that shimmered like a full moon.
Ether flooded the air, pressing against me until my pores opened. My body screamed to absorb it, but I reined in the urge and called out to Sophie to harvest the flowers.
“You found the flowers hidden beneath the thicket?” Sophie asked.
“Aureus found them. I had no idea they were there. The undergrowth isolated the flowers somehow, blocking the flow of ether,” I responded, cradling Aureus.
Good job, buddy. I don’t know what I would do without you.
Deaf. Blind. Senseless.
I chuckled and continued to caress the Earthheart, all while trying to figure out how to replicate Aureus’ technique. His senses reached into the soil. He sensed the earth and expanded his range through… ripples? Vibrations?
Whatever he did, I had to learn it too. At once, or we would have to rely on Aureus every time we went out hunting plants.