Towering far above the red mountain tops, John searched for any traces of the giant grey monkey. He had tried to return to their point of separation by following the bones lying in the sand, and that let him find the river and plains he and Rain had rested by earlier.

‘Damn, they should have run that way, right? But there are no tracks left after that wind earlier… And if they’re being careful not to be found… ‘

Thousands of mountains stretched out everywhere around him, and each one could be hiding a giant monkey behind it. His only choice was to fly high enough to view each mountain from above, letting him see all sides simultaneously.

He lay on top of Larang with his head leaning against the handle, looking down. His black armor was filled with solid essence, preventing him from being cut by the blade.

His thoughts drifted as he looked down at the ground, scanning the endless dunes of sand with his eyes.

‘Hmm… hmmmmm… It’s lonely without Rain here. I guess I’ve gotten more used to her than I expected… I should probably name my shortsword as well. It’s getting a lot of use. But it has to be less cool than Larang, of course.’

He kept drifting through the air, circling the area he believed they would be in. But not even a sign could be seen. Some other beasts were visible, moving through the red spikes, but they mostly walked in groups.

A sudden attack from the sand caused one of the beasts on the ground to get eaten, confirming John’s suspicion that beasts could hide in the sand. He raised his eyebrows but remained unmoving otherwise.

‘... They probably only attack when they hear small steps above them. Unless they have some other sense… How about Lucy? It’s a lucky blade, and that’s definitely not as cool as Larang… Or maybe I should try sticking with unique names… Clover? Nah…’

Time passed while he searched, and John felt a sense of urgency growing in his mind. The chances of finding them were diminishing with each passing moment. The day was nearing its end, forcing him to consider how to spend the night.

‘I could carve a hole in one of the mountaintops to sleep in. That’s probably much safer than staying near the ground, especially if I hide it well.’

He decided to do just that, heading for the tallest mountain nearby. While infusing Larang with some essence, he stabbed it into the side to get a proper foothold and summoned the yet unnamed shortsword.

Liquid essence swirled out from his core and onto the sword, and he started carving a small circle, just big enough for him to fit. The hole became deeper and deeper as he kept digging, letting all the rocks fall to the ground hundreds of meters below him.

‘This should keep me safe from most beasts. I hope. It’s similar to my strategy in the forest, and it worked well there despite the monkeys living in the same space.’

Eventually, he considered the hole deep enough and crawled in, admiring the uneven surface. Carving wood had been much easier, but it would do for one night.

The light of day turned to darkness outside, letting him know it was time to sleep. He lay his back on the uncomfortable surface and looked at the red ceiling half a meter above him.

‘If I get strong enough, I swear I’m gonna kill that pink bastard. I even lost some of the black essence because of him… How much is left?’

Even if it wasn’t part of his core, he could still feel the black orb of essence in the necklace. It had shrunk slightly, but more than ninety percent still remained.

‘It’s still a mystery to me what exactly this thing is, but it’s extremely valuable, that’s for sure. If it can take out horrors while I’m just a breaker… I really wish I knew how to make more. And what is the black ball of rage, exactly?’

His focus moved to the ball of hatred in his mind, and he wondered what it could be used for. It scared him in many ways, as he feared it might take control of him if he gave it a chance. But he also felt a deep compassion for the Aasvedans, so he considered it friendly.

‘Are they connected somehow? That would make a lot of sense, right? Is hatred needed to produce more of the black essence?’

As he drifted off to sleep, his thoughts and theories gradually became more abstract and nonsensical. His final thought was about a giant Serah dancing on the spot Rain had pointed to in the sky.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

‘Ah, so she really is there… That’s good…’

A rhythmical noise of rocks crushing roused John from his sleep, along with a voice he had heard before.

“...amn stubborn girl and her damn pointing… Why would he be up here? It’s just a big–” The voice briefly stopped as it neared the hole. “... Hey, John? Are you in there? Surely not, right?”

John was now fully awake, wondering how Dennis could have possibly found him in such a location. He could see the light of day coming through the hole, so it seemed he had slept well.

“Uhh, yeah, I’m in here! Are you guys alright?”

“Really? How the hell…”

“Is Rain alright?” John asked, a bit sharper this time.

“Yeah, yeah! She’s the one who pointed me to you, insisted that I climb this damn rock. Nice place you got there!”

A sigh of relief escaped John’s lips before his eyebrows lifted. He trusted that Rain had some unique ability to locate things, but he never expected it to be this good.

“That’s good. Thanks for taking care of her,” John replied, moving out of his hole.

Dennis laughed. “Hah, I owe you my life, so it’s the least I could do! I’d keep her safe anyway, but still, don’t worry about it.”

John smiled. He started to like Dennis, despite his cowardly fighting style. “Let me just crawl out of here, and then I can bring you down.”

Instead of fighting to escape the cave, he summoned Larang into his hand and let the gravity pull him straight out. Then he controlled it to leave him hanging in the air while the blade pointed straight up.

Dennis was stuck to the mountainside by a pair of puny daggers, having used them to climb over three hundred meters.

John reached a hand out to him and offered a ride down. “Let go of those flimsy daggers, and let me take us to the ground.”

Dennis looked insulted. “What do you mean flimsy? They’re nearly too large to be called daggers!”

“Daggers are flimsy by definition. Come now. If we meet any demons, I’ll let you see how real weapons work.”

Dennis furrowed his brows, still not convinced John could do what he said. But he reached over and clasped his hand, releasing his grip on the wall.

John increased Larang's upward pull to adjust for the sudden drop, and then they both fell at a reasonable pace. He could see the giant grey monkey standing underneath them, as well as a tiny black and red dot in its arms.

The relief in his heart grew even greater as John saw Rain looking up at him, waving her arms in joy.

“She’s been bugging me to go find you since last night, but I never thought she could find you like this… How did you escape, by the way? Flying up into the air?” Dennis asked, looking up at John from below.

“No, I didn’t have time for that. The shitty beast chased me for several kilometers and just kept speeding up. It was way more dangerous than I thought, but I managed to shake it by tricking it to crash into a mountain.”

Dennis took a deep breath as John told the tale. “You really are the most incredible Breaker I’ve met, without a doubt. I’m really curious about what you were going to tell me now.”

“Yeah, I’ll get to that,” John replied, slowing down as they reached Kerchak. He dropped off Dennis first before landing next to Rain and dismissing Larang.

Rain nearly ran toward him with tears in her eyes, forcing him into a big hug. John didn’t reciprocate as much as he wanted, but he still gently embraced her. He had missed her in the short time they were apart.

“John! Stupid!” Rain said firmly into his chest, holding back the shake in her voice as well as she could.

“... I’m sorry, Rain. I didn’t mean to make you worry. But I had no choice.”

“Had choice,” she replied, less firmly this time. “Stupid.”

John searched his mind for anything he could have done better during the chase, but failed to think of anything. Other than leaving the other two to die, there was nothing he could think of.

Rain’s voice was hushed as she whispered the following words, seemingly trying not to let Dennis hear. “Could Kerchak behind, escape.”

‘Ah… Fuck, that probably would have worked! Damn…’

John recalled the black bird and how it had only been after the dead barg during his encounter. It made sense that the horror was only chasing them for food, and in that case it was obvious what it would chase.

“... Okay, sorry. I was stupid, you’re right.”

Rain nodded and let go of him, looking at his eyes and smiling. “But good now… Dennis stupid!”

“Hey, just because you point in a direction and say John repeatedly doesn’t mean I’m stupid for not going there!” Dennis retorted, speaking way too quickly for Rain to understand.

But Rain just repeated, “Dennis stupid!” unbothered by her lack of understanding. They seemed to be getting along fine, John thought with a smile.

‘At least she’s not scared of him anymore. Perhaps this was for the best?’

Dennis sighed in annoyance, turning to John. “Right, John. I hesitated to look for you because we found something during the chase yesterday.”

“... What did you find?” John asked, wondering what could have been more important.

“A portal.”