“What?!” Lightning struck in the minds of both Adrian and Malaki when they heard Bella. “You mean that undead was there too?!” Leon’s dark shadow still loomed at the back of their minds, ever present.
Bella nodded nervously, her fingers tightening around her new staff. “Yes. The energy I felt from the millipede was the same, so I think it was him.” She stuttered.
“Are you sure?” Adrian asked again to be sure.
“I-I know it was him. The mana signature was the same.” Bella straightened and nodded her head.
“Dammit. We can’t contend against that monster.” Adrian gritted his teeth in frustration. Things were already hard enough, but if they had to share this forest with Leon, then things would be even worse. To them, he was even worse than the horde of monsters that they had to fight with earlier!
“We have to keep moving. Moping over his presence here will bring us nothing.” Malaki grunted. His green eyes looked around, scanning the undergrowth for any signs of a black creature with dozens of legs. He found none. Even he still had nightmare of being buried under mountains of black millipedes till this day.
“You are right. Let’s get going.” Adrian sighed and turned around, leading the group further into the forest. Bella had been able to gain a vague sense of the location of a possible treasure the night before. They could only hope that they were able to contend this time.
The group began traveling north. It took half a day before they encountered something worthy of note. Along the way, they had avoided groups of monsters, only killing solo monsters to harvest their cores. The cores of monsters were valuable to mages, as mages were able to absorb the mana stored within them to advance their own levels. Although the gain was not epic, it was still something that was immensely useful! Doubly so when on the Island of Fate, as the mana concentration was at its peak, which also made advancement much smoother for those who were participating.
When they were traveling, the sounds of battle up ahead suddenly reached their ears. Battle cries and the sounds of weapons clashing stood out in the air.
Adrian turned to his teammates. “Other participants.” He said grimly. He resolutely turned away to put space between himself and the people fighting.
“We should help.” Bella suddenly said, her eyes wary.
“Why? We shouldn’t concern ourselves with other participants. We have our own necks to look out for.” Adrian stopped and stared back at her.
“Yes, we do have our own necks to look out for. But if we can gain the allegiance of one of the parties, then our overall strength would rise. That way we can do better in the Bout. We can compete better for the rare treasures. You know as well as I do that we can barely survive here as we are, Adrian.” Bella replied firmly, her back straight as a rod, and her gaze challenging.
“…” Adrian turned his gaze away, while Malaki turned to look at their party leader with a silent gaze. He did not say anything, but the look he was giving Adrian was telling enough.
“Come on, Adrian. You know I am right. Let’s help them.” Bella said once more. After a few seconds of Adrian not replying, she resolutely turned and began heading in the direction of the fight. Malaki sighed, shook his head, and followed after her, leaving Adrian to himself.
Adrian gritted his teeth and clenched his fists, cursing himself for his cowardice. He was not always like this. It was that damn skeleton’s fault. Ever since that battle, he had turned into a shell of his former self. He was now a coward, and it pained him to admit that, even if it was just to himself.
After a few moments, he calmed himself and turned to follow in the direction of his teammates. He quickly caught up and took up the frontal position without a word.
Seeing the reassuring behavior of their comrade and friend, Bella and Malaki exchanged a warm look. They had all been scarred by the encounter with Leon a week back, but they were going to overcome it. Together…
Adrian gripped the handles of his twin swords, holding them at the ready when he breached the cover of vegetation that circled the small clearing. There, he saw two people fighting back a joint attack of three. There was an injured person between the two defenders, and one look was enough to tell that the injured person would definitely not survive if left unattended to for much longer.
The emergence of Adrian’s group of three alarmed both parties. They each thought that this new group would swoop in to either assist one side, or kill all of them.
“Malaki!” Adrian’s eyes shot open and his swords glowed red as he activated a skill.
Whoosh!
The green haired man dashed forward, appearing before one of the fighters that wielded a bastard sword.
“Wait! What are you doing?” The bearded man grunted as he barely just oriented himself to be able to block that sudden attack.
“Stop fighting now!” Adrian growled as he used his strength to push the man back a step. The person he was fighting leapt back, grateful to finally have some reprieve.
Seeing his comrade being assailed by the third party, the other person who had been ganging up on the victim that had just been untangled sought to exploit Adrian’s concentration on his companion. He dashed forward with two daggers held at the ready, primed to dig into Adrian’s vulnerable throat.
Ding!
A thick, sturdy shield appeared between his daggers and Adrian as bottle green eyes peered down at him over the top of the shield.
“Not on my watch.” Malaki’s deep voice shook the heart of the other man as his shield glowed with a brown color. “Ward!” Bubbles of brown mana spread over the three in their group as Malaki activated his defensive skill.