CHAPTER 39
A WALL TO CLIMB
Hans had been volunteering for a whole month, doing all sorts of small jobs.However, despite his efforts, successfully landing a blow on her remained a distant dream; he couldn't even touch her once. She continued to tease him with the pendant resting on her neck. “Put some effort, kiddo. Don’t you want this back?”
He grumbled. While he could manage without Osiris commands, flying had become second nature to him. He needed it desperately, as he was way slower compared to Hera's incredible speed. To make matters worse, she had banned him from using the Sunfield sanctuary, so he couldn't even practice with it.
Gasping for breath, he fell to the ground. “How are you so fast... ha... ha,” he whined, defeated once again. He could keep going with his stamina recovery from Paradise Garden, but it seemed pointless, except for proving the definition of insanity.
“Just give me the pendant, and I’ll succeed.” He pouted.
“I've told you, there are no shortcuts to gaining overwhelming power.” Hera gently warned “Tools may be useful, but relying on external factors will only hold you back.”
Hans couldn’t refute it. He understood what Hera was trying to teach him. She was taking time out of her busy schedule to give him the experience of a Warlock, so he couldn't complain much. However, missing his wind gem was taking a toll on him. The regular defeats were starting to feel hopeless.
“Photonise” He called upon and got the energy from sunstone barrier in a moment. His whole body was glowing, crackling with power.
“SilvaOrtus” the training ground shook, and energised fauna covered the vision of Hera.
“This again! Don’t be creative. Just attack me with your instinct—”
“That’s not working.” Hans stressed as he became one with the jungle, his senses covering the whole area. “VoidZone.” He put his ultimate move to the test.
Searching for Hans’s presence in the forest filled with solar energy was even a challenge for Hera. “Putting mana regeneration to a halt is nothing for me, kiddo, but you are really good at hiding.” She said while her eyes still searched at the speed of light. “You’ll make a decent assassin.”
As she stepped here and there, the whole forest woke up, his SharpDeath and landmines kept exploding one after another, guiding her to the place he prepared for an ambush with BlastBullets. He rained it over her, but her increased speed denied his efforts.
“Damn her agility, she was holding back before.” Hiding inside a trunk of a tree, Hans cursed.
Somehow she cam into his sight, gracefully dodging his rain of blastbullets as if she was dancing amid chaos.
“This won’t work.” Hans thought, “I need to change this.”
Suddenly the attacks stopped and the summoned forest became as quiet as a mouse. “You out of juice, kiddo?” She teased, her demeanour hasn’t changed but Hans could see several drops of sweat on her face.
“Yes, it’s working. No one is better than me in a battle of attrition. It hurts my pride but this is the only way.” Hans took a breath in and his voice echoed through different places. “Let’s see who’ll outlast each other, Ma’am. I could go on forever—”
“Aerial rays.” Hera said, as the six concurrent circles of bright white encased her.
“Damn, it’s a sixth circle spell. You said you’ll only dodge.” Hans complained as he felt the spell’s power, VoidZone was shaking, as the amount of mana suddenly spiked at an uncontrollable rate. She was pouring her mana out, transforming it into a tornado of light rays.
“I ain’t targeting you, son. It’s just your forest is growing on me. GO.” She commanded and the tornado of light and it uprooted the entire forest in a moment, leaving Hans to fend for himself.
“Damn, this is exhausting.” Hans exclaimed as he fell on his bottom once again. “This is insanity,” he cried, gazing up at the sky.
“Just call me 'mother,' and this madness will end,” Hera teased, playing with his cheeks. Surprisingly, Hans managed to escape this time without any pinching.
“I'm thirteen, for heaven's sake. I'm not a kid.” He pointed towards his throat, “Look, my Adam's apple is showing—"
“Ah no! That's called a throat, silly,” she chuckled. “You're still just a cute kid to me.”
“But didn't you dislike my father? We're practically identical. How come you're being so affectionate?” He asked, blurting out his thoughts without a filter.
“There's a difference between you two. Firstly, you're adorable, whereas he was simply annoying, and second—” she appeared before him, drawing close and enveloping him in a tight embrace, “Your defiance is so cute,” she said as Hans squirmed like a fish out of water before finally giving in.
“Ma'am, have you had enough? Please let me go,” he asked with dead eyes. He had a resigned expression, while Hera continued to playfully rub her face against his cheeks.
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“You are still using your head, kiddo. I told you, give into your instinct. ‘You aren’t a mage, but something else entirely—This is a hint.” She stressed the last part and finally let him go.
Hans was puzzled by Hera's cryptic remark, so she dropped another clue. “You are a monster, so be a monster. Why are you holding back? That Elderwood, you haven't used his abilities once. Now figure out the rest yourself.”
The words hit him like a thunder. He finally understood that his human spells were stronger in the Elderform, so he had only focused on using those enhanced spells. However, Elderwood was a classless beast, something powerful enough for Samson and his three commanders to fight for days.
“Yes, yes,” He exclaimed, feeling a glimmer of hope and hurried inside, but his supervisor caught him and gave him a stern scolding for neglecting his tasks. So, he became busy finishing his work.
Finally, with every obstacle out of the way, he found solace in the node library. “Rare creatures, rare creature... classless beast record... yes, found one.” He picked up an old book and blew off the dust, nearly coughing from the cloud. Fortunately, he found information dedicated to Elderwood in records of calamities.
He sat cross-legged in a quiet corner and immersed himself in the knowledge about Elderwood. A formless and unclassified creature of nature, hard to flee from and even harder to kill. He read that sentence and was stayed puzzled for a second, “Formless— it’s not humanoid?”
“Maybe it took the form of a human because I'm used to it. Then how about I transform into something similar to a snake golem?” Hans pondered to himself. He wanted to try it out, but it was dark outside. Ever since he absorbed the day seed, he started avoiding nights because he felt somewhat powerless without the sun shining overhead.
“Let's check it out tomorrow,” he decided, sorting the papers back into the book and returning it to the shelf.
He felt reluctant to leave the library. In his search for anything about Elderwood, he found many records of other interesting things, especially about red demons, sunstones, and nodes’ information. One name that caught his attention was Anfaleen Torceran, the nodemaster of Clandor's second node. But he couldn’t find any more information on him. “Damn it, I want to know more about him,” he muttered as he left, sighing.
A short while later, Kai reported to Hera. “He found the record you left there... why didn't you give it to him yourself?”
“He enjoys finding answers on his own. The satisfaction of discovery is different when you find it yourself,” she explained, passing the signed document back to Kai. “Have our node members finished scouting the graduation test area?” she asked.
“Yes, there were several sightings of one or two six-hands. We'll begin search for them soon. Meeting even one would mean death for fourth years,” Kai replied.
“Okay, proceed as usual,” she nodded.
“But master... that boy also showed interest in Nodemaster Anfaleen—”
“Why?” Hera paused, her brows furrowing.
“I'm not sure, but his gaze was intense… It's not just a passing interest.”
“Move everything related to Anfaleen to the classified area immediately. I don’t want him to poke a hornet’s nest.”
“Understood, master,” Kai nodded and left, leaving Hera deep in thought. She wondered what could have caused Hans to harbour an animosity towards a man he had never met. Even after scouring through Hans's information, she couldn't find any clues.
Sighing, she resigned herself, “As long as he stays away from him, it's for the best. Anfaleen has an ancient backing him up. The teacher warned me not to meddle with anything related to them until I become one myself. Just wait a bit, kiddo. I'll settle your grudges in due time.”
Life continued as usual in the node, although the fort suddenly felt empty, giving volunteers plenty of time to rest or explore. Hera was occupied with her own tasks, leaving Hans without a secluded place to train. He didn't want to display his abilities to others, fearing he might lose control again, as he had when he first absorbed the day seed. Thankfully, Dietrich was there to intervene and calm him down.
Reflecting on that incident, Hans realised he had made a mess of that man-eating forest in a matter of moments. “Darn it. I should have asked for details from Great-grandfather. Where was my intelligence when I needed it?” he cursed, then decided to head to the library.
“Where did those records go?” He mumbled and complained to the librarian that he couldn't find the book he had been reading last time. The librarian explained that few classified books were in the general section, so they were moved back.
“Great! Just what I needed.” He heaved a long sigh and began foraging the library for anything useful, but none interested him more than Anfaleen. “I should just read about red demons’ history.”
He found the several stacked reports and sat in his yesterday’s spot.
“Year 1036 marked a significant event in the history of Utar as a rift opened on its northern shore, unleashing creatures from the Red Demon race. These beings are characterised by their armoured exoskeletons and distinctive red, wrinkled skin. They possess formidable abilities, including the use of space magic, making them challenging adversaries without specialised gear.
A hierarchical structure is observed among the Red Demon race:
Infantry: Mindless humanoid figures standing at least 6 feet tall, varying in builds but generally formidable in combat.
Captains: Four-handed humanoid figures with weaponised limbs and insect-like wings. They possess the same height as infantry but exhibit stronger physical attributes and inhibit leadership qualities. They are capable of using tactics and planning. So when facing a red demon squad, the first priority is to kill the captain.
Commanders: These entities have six hands, weaponised limbs, and larger builds, demonstrating otherworldly strength and speed comparable to class six or seven beasts, indicating high danger levels. These command several captains, and there have been rare sightings of this significant presence till now.
Kings: Only four Kings have been observed so far, each stationed in one of the cardinal directions (east, west, south, and north). They possess gigantic bodies and impenetrable armour, making them extremely challenging to face. Efforts to neutralise them have failed in the past.
Additionally, there is speculation about an entity above the Kings, ruling over them and controlling the four directions, although direct contact has not been established thus far.
A noteworthy mention goes to the Halfgods, a special unit or champions within the Red Demon race. They are well versed in assassinations and are easier to distinguish with three heads and humanoid bodies.
Their presence poses a significant obstacle to establishing settlements within the barrier, making them a top priority for elimination by collective forces.”
He read quickly. “This is some precise document. I don’t need to read into details.” He rearranged the pages and put the file back. “So Ms. Hera wants me to eliminate Assassins of red demons. These idiots termed them Halfgods. I thought they fell under king categories. Thank god they aren’t?”
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