They were soon finished packing. As Prise had promised, she’d managed to secure a cart and plenty of rations. There likely wouldn’t be any issues with supplies anymore.
The little girl—Old Joe’s daughter—punched Ezra in the leg, saying that he needed to kill the monster this time. Ezra shrugged and said he’d try his best.
Filamenta had fallen back asleep, promising that she’d be awake soon.
They headed out and walked for several hours, Prise leading the way. Ezra elected to stay in the back, saying he was having trouble picking up on the trail and that Prise would be better at finding it.
Of course, that was a lie. The radar was functional as always. He just didn’t want to be close to her.
Most of the Otherworlders kept a distance from him. Ezra probably looked like a demon with how messed up his eyes were at this point. He wasn’t looking forward to when they came back to the town—he’d just dive right back into his studies. But it had to be done.
The day passed by quietly. Everyone knew that it would take several days to find the Golem, so no one was on guard.
That was probably their first mistake.
Ezra glanced off to the side and narrowed his eyes. Had he seen something?
There was something in the woods. Unlike the Demons, this one was cautious, slow. It was taking its time, stalking them through the woods like some kind of hunter.
Ezra sped up to approach Charles.
“Enemy to our right,” Ezra said. “Don’t look, that’ll tip it off.”
Charles’s neck twitched but he managed to keep his head straight.
“It’s like a hunter,” Charles said. “It must be waiting for someone to fall behind or get separated.”
“Do you want to just attack it?” Ezra said.
Charles hummed. “Let’s not. I don’t want to risk it getting away and then sneaking up on us later on.”
“I think we should just kill the thing and call it a day,” Ezra said.
Charles looked at him with a side-eye.
“You’re a rather violent guy, aren’t you? Is that something you picked up in your homeland, or here?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Just like how you looking into the Dark Seal is none of my business?” Charles said. “Because it is, actually.”
Ezra grimaced. He knew that Charles would find out, but he didn’t expect him to confront him like this.
“It was simple curiosity, that’s all,” Ezra said. “I just wanted to find out a little bit about this dangerous artifact we’re hunting down.”
“Interesting.”
They continued walking for another minute.
“So, are we going to take care of this monster?” Ezra said.
“We’ll lay a trap. Bait it in using someone with high Constitution, then strike it down.”
“Sounds like a plan to me. Do you have someone in mind?”
Charles folded his hands behind his back. “Yeah. He’s a tough guy, should be able to handle it.”
He stared at Ezra rather pointedly.
“I can take a hint,” Ezra said.
He walked off to the side and slowly diverged from the group. As he walked, the sounds of talking and walking slowly disappeared from his ears. He stuffed his hands in his pocket, his footsteps crunching against the snow.
He was alone.
Ezra shut his eyes. It was still and quiet.
His eyes snapped open and he jumped to the side. A white fist sailed past where he’d just been. Ezra rolled and turned around.
Yeti - Lv. 60
The creature was tall and lanky like a thin branch. Its eyes were wide and oversized while its head seemed too large for its body. It didn’t make a single vocal sound, even as it opened its mouth.
Ezra cracked his neck. This would be fun. If he was fast enough, maybe he’d be able to deal with this thing before the Otherworlders even got to him.
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The yeti rushed at Ezra and swung its fists in a massive arc. Ezra ducked underneath it and slammed his fist into the creature’s stomach. It didn’t even wince and threw its other fist at Ezra. This time, he was too slow and he flew to the side from the punch.
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Ezra clicked his tongue. It was tough.
He had two options. He could bring out Filamenta and end this quickly, or he could pound the same spot repeatedly till it did some real damage. Those were the techniques that worked the best in his experience.
He looked at his hand. Filamenta would be the best option, but the Otherworlders would be swooping through the trees any second now. Best to save her for later.
Ezra looked at the stomach area. If he could just restrain the Yeti for a bit and use [Titan’s Fists] to get a combo in, he was pretty sure he’d be able to damage the internal organs. But he only had any restraining abilities that the Otherworlders knew about.
The Yeti raised its hands up to grab Ezra. He dived out of the way and snuck in a quick punch. The Yeti winced before swinging its arm like a windmill.
3930/4000
Ezra narrowed his eyes. He’d done damage there. A little bit, but still. He blocked the windmill attack and threw another punch.
3873/4000
Suddenly, a sword appeared and the Yeti dived backward, barely dodging.
Dorian pulled back her rapier and gave Ezra a wave. A moment later, a half-dozen arrows rushed past Ezra and toward the Yeti. It dodged to the side and rushed toward the archers. Charles swooped in and slashed his razor. The Yeti stumbled backward.
Ezra ran back in and delivered a punch while the creature was staggered. It stumbled backward.
“Pete, now!” Charles said.
“I can’t take the shot, he’s in the way!” Pete said.
The Yeti reached out for Ezra and smashed its fists into his block. Ezra felt his arms creak from the pressure, but he remained standing. He counter-attacked with a strong punch to its chest. Ezra followed up with another punch. The Yeti began to move its arms to block. Ezra rushed forward and landed one more punch.
Something snapped inside its body.
2523/4000
Ezra dived out of the way. “Now!”
A dozen arrow shots, fireballs, and energy blasts slammed into the Yeti, disintegrating it on the spot.
Ezra wiped a bit of sweat off his brow. He looked back to see Charles glaring daggers at Pete.
Charles took his eyes off Pete and looked over at the Otherworlders. “Good job, everyone. Let’s take a breather and set up camp.
Ezra glanced over at the area where the Yeti had died.
Frost Yeti Fur (C-rank Material)
This thick, snow-white fur radiates a persistent chill and sparkles faintly with ice magic. Extracted from the elusive Frost Yeti, it is prized for its remarkable cold resistance properties. While durable, it is light and flexible, making it ideal for crafting cold-resistant armor or enchanted cloaks. The frosty aura of the fur also allows items crafted with it to gain a minor frost aura, which slows enemies’ movements and weakens fire-based attacks.
Ezra quietly walked over and grabbed the fur. He walked over to the wagon and stuffed the fur into a bag.
He glanced around. Everyone was busy taking out the tents or sitting down and having a meal… except one person. Yuki. He hadn’t talked with her very much—she didn’t bother showing up to any of his teaching sessions. Perhaps he should check in on her?
He sighed. He pretty much had to, didn’t he? He owed her a debt for helping him back at the start of all this. He should at least make sure she isn’t on the verge of some kind of emotional breakdown or something.
----------------------------------------
Ezra circled the camp, his eyes narrowed. He hadn’t seen Yuki at all. Had she just left or something? No—he was fairly certain he saw her not so long ago. She came with the group, he was certain of that much.
He wandered out into the forest and took a breath. The air was sharp and tinged with an odd, flowery scent.
He frowned sharply. It felt like his skin was getting pressed in as if it was extremely humid. Ezra flipped on [Mana Perception]. The air was alight with mana. It was everywhere, in the trees, in the air—and it was all coming from a specific direction.
He turned off [Mana Perception] and followed the direction where the mana seemed to be coming from. After a few seconds, he spotted a kneeling figure. She had her hood down and had her eyes shut.
A moment later, there was a crackling sound and the air in front of her shimmered. A wave of energy exploded out and crashed into a tree, destroying it instantly. Ezra winced from the sound. He covered up his eyes as dust and wood splinters fell everywhere.
Yuki breathed out and opened her eyes. She caught sight of Ezra and stiffened.
“What are you doing here?” Her tone was sharp, suspicious. “Did you follow me?”
“…yes.”
Yuki held her hand out. Ezra took a step back.
“If you don’t leave me alone, I’ll do to you what I did to that tree!” Her eyes widened and her pupils shrunk to pinpricks. “You think I won’t? Trust me, you don’t want to bet on that?”
Ezra furrowed his eyebrows.
She’d changed even more than he remembered… or was she just acting differently because he was a stranger? Still, it felt odd, because he could never imagine her acting like this.
Her arm lit up with a green glow. Ezra held up his hands. “Hold on. I was just coming to check in on you. This place is dangerous.”
Yuki snorted. “Yeah, right. I’ve heard that line before—if you seriously think I’ll fall for that crap, then you’re mistaken.”
Ezra raised an eyebrow. “Can I ask why you seem to have such a negative impression of me?”
“I saw your eyes crawling over me,” she said. “Like you saw right past me. I know damn well what you’re looking for, you creep.”
God, she was way more of an asshole than he remembered, holy goodness.
“What was that attack?” he said.
“Why should I tell you anything?” she said.
“Some sort of fire magic? No—dimensional or spatial manipulation.”
Her breath hitched.
“How did you know that?” she said.
“My experience as a mercenary has taught me many things.”
Like how to lie effectively.
She put down her hand, her eyes narrowed.
“If you know that I can do dimensional magic, then you know that I can kill you, higher level or not, so I’d recommend keeping quiet.”
Yuki? Kill him? Sure, keep dreaming.
“Uh-huh,” Ezra said. “So, are you going to explain what you’re doing out here?”
She bit her cheek and averted her gaze. After a few seconds, she paused.
“I don’t want anyone to know I can do these things,” she said.
“Why?”
“Because then they’d make me fight?”
Ezra hummed. Oh, he saw what was going on. “And you don’t want to fight. Because you’re scared, right?”
Yuki blinked slowly.
“Yes. I’m scared.”
Ezra had the feeling that there was something he was failing to pick up on something. After a moment, he shrugged. It probably wasn’t that important.
“Well,” he said. “If you need a hand, then call me.”
“I won’t take you up on that offer, but thanks, I guess,” she said.
For a few seconds, they awkwardly stared at each other.
“I guess I’ll get going,” Ezra said. He turned around.
“Wait!”
Ezra turned his head back.
There was a flicker of vulnerability in her eyes for the first time in the conversation. Not much, but it was there.
“Do I know you?” she said. “You look familiar.”
Ezra paused. He turned his head back around.
“No,” he said. “We’ve never met.”
He walked away.