“Ok, Rain, I've viewed your status. Now let Lita go,” I said menacingly, the intensity in my tone rising. Viewing his status did nothing to me except make me more determined to avenge Lita later down the line. He had barely said a word, yet his actions and the little he had said, spoke volumes about his character. Was just anyone handed the hero class? My first contact with a fabled Hero, and I was already greatly disappointed.
Heroes were beings that stood near the peak of the possible classes available to human. The conditions necessary to meet the requirements for the class were preposterous. Most countries had maybe one or two such heroes as trump cards, capable of razing cities unless combated by another hero or similar class.
The class would also evolve based on how the hero developed like any other class. Seeing the Fallen keyword Within Rain's class name, I already knew that it could mean nothing good. Since my analysis level was too low, I was still unable to see his skills or stats, but based on his age and evolution of the hero class, which was one of the most challenging classes to level up. It was probably no joke.
Lita had long since scrunched up and covered her face with her hands, perhaps aware of my gaze as I watched her.
“How pitiful, these inferior races only show their true colors when pressed down by true authority and strength. Weak, fragile, easily broken. As her master, you ought to warn her never to disregard her superiors.” Rain said, barely even looking at Lita. Then and there, I felt the strong urge to go against my rationality and attempt to kill him.
“Certainly, you know how ridiculous you sound. Another word and ill never be your apprentice. Unhand her now if you even want me to consider it.” I replied. I wasn't a fan of lying but watching Lit. I wanted him to unhand her at once.
“Did you think I was giving you a choice? A lucky encounter like this had to be divine intervention to overthrow that whore of a goddess.” Rain said. He wasn't even making any sense. Could he hear himself? He sounded insane.
“Starshine seal” As rain spoke, a soft glow radiated from my neck. Dimming down, a purple star remained in its place.
“A gift from me to you. Don't wander too far now. It would be a pain to find you later.” With that, almost as suddenly as he appeared, he disappeared.
Panicked, I quickly checked my status. The last thing I wanted was a curse from a bastard like that.
Name: Tene Renhart(Starshine Tracker)
Race: Human
Class: —
Focusing deeper on the Starchine Tracker on my name, I expanded its status.
Starshine Tracker -> (The Starshine Hero permanently has access to your location at all times.)
I felt an intense headache begin to take root in my brain. This was bad. He basically would always know where I was. There would be no escaping him.
I need to get this dispelled as soon as possible. Either way, there was nothing I could do now on my own. Shaking off my doubts, I returned my attention to Lita. She clearly needed me right now.
Lita, freed from his clutches, began to gasp for breath, her face dowsed in sweat. She was still shivering, curled in a ball, clutching her arms.
“It's ok now, Lita.” Walking up to her, I embraced her in my warmth.
“It's ok. Whatever happened before isn't going to happen again. Not while I'm here. You're ok now.” After what felt like a few minutes, I could feel Lita slowly regain her senses as she stopped shivering. Taking deep breaths, she returned my hug, forgetting to control her strength. I felt my bones almost begin to snap.
“I couldn't protect you, mistress. I'm sorry,” Lita said regretfully.
“It's ok. Maybe don't squeeze so hard, though,” I replied jokingly. Releasing her grip, Lita stood back up, reinvigorated. I don't know what she had gone through in the past to become like this, but I considered her family, and I would always protect my family. That bastard Rain— I would ensure I paid him back for what he did to her. That went for anybody that looked down on her or harmed her in the future too.
“As for you, you're a real piece of work, you know that?” standing back up, I brushed the dirt off my knees and glared at Urila. I couldn't fault him for being weak, neither could I fault him for his lack of action. I did fault him, however, for his complete disregard towards us. If that man had tried to kill me, I don't think he would have lifted a finger.
“A fool. She should have known he wasn't planning to harm you.” Urila said.
Ughhhh what a bastard. I was this close to adding his name next to that bastard Rain.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
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The rest of the journey was rather uneventful as we didn't run into any more Ice Trolls as we quickly approached the end of the path on our Udines. It was slowly reaching the peak of nightfall, with Litas flame being the only thing lighting up the darkness. I assumed Rain had done something to the road, resulting in the lack of monsters on the rest of our path.
Just like that, we saved roughly two days' worth of travel time, though it resulted in me getting a strange tattoo on my neck and further losing trust in one of my so-called ‘companions.’
I could feel my stomach begin to rumble softly. Well, the last meal we had was in the morning. I was starving. I could tell Lita was also hungry, though, to be honest, she was always hungry.
“Phony comrade, can we get something to eat, please? We should be safe here, we haven't run into any trolls in a while, and the exit should be just up ahead.” I said, looking in Urilas direction.
“Don't call me that,” Urila replied, yet his tone seemed to show he couldn't care less what I called him.
“Then what should I call someone who treats their companions like dirt,” I said mockingly.
“We can take a short break here. Tell your maid to control herself. We have a limited supply of rations.“ Urila replied.
Tsk. He ignored me.
Taking out basic rations for our short journey from his backpack, I couldn't help but cringe at the stale-looking bread and watery soup.
Lita, then waving her hand softly, created a table of blue ice, fit with some small cold-looking ice chairs. It could have looked more comfortable, but at least it would get the job done.
With all three of us sitting, we then began to eat. Lita, next to me, seemed to finish her portion in a heartbeat, while Urila and I took a bit longer. Honestly, it tasted bland and hard, and overall it was terrible. I couldn't help but wonder why Urila chose such low-quality foods when he had the money for something a bit better.
“This tastes terrible,” I said.
“One's hunger is there just to be quenched, not indulged,” Urila said while drinking some water from a small casket. Was he trying to join the priesthood or something?
“Well, aren't you intriguing,” I said sarcastically.
“I don't strive to be,” Urila said, not even looking up at me.
“You should. As a phony companion, the least you could do is be interesting,” I replied, Handing over the remainder of my stale bread to Lita.
“Insipidness fools your enemies.” He replied. If he was trying to say that not standing out was the best way to live your life, then he was wrong in my books.
“And living your life in constant fear is the best way to go about it?” I replied.
“Fear? Your enemies will fear you just before their lives are extinguished.” Urila said.
What a way to live your life.
Suddenly, raising his hand, Urila signaled that danger was approaching. Lita, realizing a second later, grabbed me and dashed further down the road.
Beneath where we once stood, the ground began to crumble and rise upwards as cracks opened in the ice. The Ice merged together, first forming legs, then a body, a thick pair of arms, and finally a head. A massive green golem stood before us, looking at us with pure animosity.
Analysis.
Name: Cliffs
Age: 87
Race: Ice Golem
Class: Cryogenic Berserker[A]
It looked way stronger than any monster I had encountered thus far. An A-rank class was exceptionally rare. It was also a named monster, meaning it was either evolved or blessed. I might not be able to defeat it even with my transformation. Honestly, it would be nice to be able to analyze it further.
I couldn't help but wonder why it would be waiting for us at the entrance and why we hadn't encountered any foes until now. Hopefully, that bastard Rain had nothing to do with it.
“Stand back,” Urila said. Oh, was he finally planning to actually do something?
“Starsfelt, rise.” Issuing a command, a thick black miasma seemed to exit from his palm and seep into the ground. A black armoured hand suddenly burst through the earth, gigging and clawing its way out. Soon an armored figure emerged from the ground.
Clasped completely in thick black armor, a visor completely covering the creature's face, it held a massive red broadsword in its hands, resting effortlessly on its shoulder. I could barely make out the semblance of silver hair poking out from the gap in its helmet.
Could Urilas class be summoner related? Summoner classes were known as one of the hardest to acquire and evolve. I don't really know the details, but capturing and acquiring a powerful monster's loyalty was far more difficult than killing it. That left acquiring a monster at a low level and evolving it yourself. Most monsters were far more longed lived than humans and therefore leveled up at a slower pace. The type of monsters you could acquire also greatly depended on your class type. A dragon summoner class could, for example, only summon dragon or dragon lineage monsters. It looked like Urila’s summoning type was undead based.
Analysis.
Surprising me, the appearance of a status screen appeared before me. He didn't block me?
Name: Blood Starsfelt(Summoned)
Age: unknown
Race: Undead Apostle
Class: Bloodsword Champion[S]
It didn't look much stronger than the Golem. I doubt this was the peak of Urila's strength. I couldn't help but think back on our earlier conversation.
“master, issue your commands,” A feminine voice resounded eerily from under the visor.
“Destroy it quickly. Give little away,” Urila replied.
“Yes, master,” Starfelt said respectfully. Softly bowing her head.
Dashing forward with speed no slower than litas, Starfelt held the massive slab of metal adjacent to her face. Jumping above the golem, She swung her broadsword down heavily, aiming at the Golems emerald head.
Not being as stupid or weak as the trolls, the golem brought its arm up to block the attack. A hard clash of metal slamming against the earth rang out in all directions. It looked like the attack did nothing but further anger the Golem. Swinging its free arm at Starsfelt, unable to dodge in time, a sickening crunch echoed through the road as she was flung away with the speed of a flying lance, slamming hard against the adjacent ice wall.
“Get up,” Urila said coldly.
“Yes, master” Picking herself up from the hollow crater she had been embedded into, I heard her broken bones and dislocated joints snap back into place, healing themselves. She then pointed her broadsword at the Golem. Its blood-red color began to get darker and darker. Then, a massive bubble of dark blood began to form around its blade, encasing it entirely.
Repeating her movements from before, she once again dashed forward and brought her massive sword down on the creature's head. Again, repeating its earlier movements, the golem brought its arm out to stop her swords advance, except this time, instead of the clang of metal I was expecting, a soft sizzling sound resounded at the blade, completely cut through the golem's arm re-apairing on the other side.
Just as I thought the golem would soon lose its head too, white steam began to pour out from its wound, rushing towards Starsfelts face. It looked like the golem was trying to make her call off the remainder of her attack. If she continued her finishing blow, she wouldn't leave unscathed.
However, instead of retreating, another bubble of blood seeped out of her armor and, similar to her sword, covered it in its entirety in red. The ice cloud barely managed to melt the outer layer of the armor before her sword cleaved through the golem, cutting it in half.
[Your Party Has Defeated Cliffs The Ice Golem]
As the golem crumbled into pieces, Starsfelt returned to her master's side. Still encased in a mist of red, she resembled a demon straight out of hell.
“Good job.” Urila praised her while patting her helmet.
“Anytime, master.” Like a cat, Starsfelt rubbed her head in Urilas embrace, happy to be praised before disappearing into a wisp of black smoke.
[LEVEL UP - Analysis]