Chapter 127: Foxfire in the Crags
Noticing the fox deep in thought, Labrys shifted uncomfortably, his frustration mounting. “There’s no need to dwell on it further,” closing his eyes and lifting his nose. “Let's begin your training in earnest. Hurry and transform.”
Haku shrugged, his flames covering him as he complied. 'I’ll talk this over with big brother when he gets back. Maybe he already knows about this Void stuff.'
The heat from Haku’s transformation made Labrys’s skin tighten, his stone hide absorbing the intense warmth. Once the blaze settled, he opened his eyes—and immediately frowned. His vision was filled with blue fire and black fur. Tilting his head up, he saw the fox grinning down at him, panting lightly.
“Hey, shorty.”
Labrys’s molten eyes flared. “Shorty? Since when were you taller?!”
Haku now stood a full meter taller than the guardian, his imposing beast-form reaching seven meters at the shoulders. Even his flames burned hotter and denser than before.
Clicking his tongue, Haku flexed his massive claws and inspected his new body. “Looks like I gained more than I thought. You’re really the best trainer—thank you Labrys.” His eyes sparkled with genuine gratitude.
Labrys’s eye twitched. 'This damn pup insults me one second, then throws compliments the next.' Circling Haku suspiciously, his stone hooves crushed the ground with each step. “Attack me,” he demanded. “Let’s see how much stronger you’ve become.”
Without hesitation, Haku’s massive claw swiped toward Labrys before the bull could fully prepare. The flames surrounding the strike singed the air as Labrys took the hit, barely flinching, the sound of grating stone ripping from the attack.
“Oops. Not ready?” Haku tilted his head, his grin apologetic. “Sorry, I’m just really excited about all this.”
Wiping the singed rock and ash from his chest, Labrys stared at him flatly. “You’re stronger…” His tone was measured, his glowing eyes sharp. “…but it's not enough.”
Haku snorted, the fire around him flaring briefly. 'I could’ve told you that,' rolling his shoulders and stretching his massive limbs. “I’d say I’m wielding about 200 Cauldrons now, give or take.” His voice was calm, but his blue eyes flickered with frustration. “but you’re right, it's still nowhere near enough.”
Turning his gaze to the horizon, Haku sniffed the air. “I need to fight something,” he murmured, more to himself than anyone else. His gaze slid to Labrys, his expression flat. “…Something I stand a chance against.”
“At your current strength, we should head to the middle area. The mana-beasts of the Stalwart Plains are too weak for you.”
“The Shattered Crags?!” Haku’s ears perked up, his flames flaring slightly. “That means I’ll get to see a golem! Ha! Big brother is gonna be jealous I saw em first.” Bounding ahead, Haku paused to glance back over his shoulder. “What're you waiting for? Let’s go kill some shit!”
A strange sensation rippled through Labrys, his spine tingling as he watched Haku’s unrestrained excitement. The innocent yet primal bloodlust in the fox’s voice stirred something deep within the old guardian. With a grin, he reached up and gripped the stone plates on his shoulders. The rock twisted like soft clay, and with a firm yank, he produced his two massive axes. “Well said! But you’re going the wrong way.”
Haku froze mid-step, coughing awkwardly as he spun around. Quickly deflecting, his tone turned curious. “How strong are the golems? Is it true they regenerate almost instantly?”
As the two began their trek toward the Shattered Crags, Haku’s senses remained sharp. Despite feeling more confident about Labrys being at his side, the Lithic Bastion was no place to let his guard down. One misstep could spell death, even for someone of his strength.
The chaotic mix of scents surrounding them filled his vision, but one, in particular, caught his attention: blood. Human blood. It was fresh and unmistakably mixed with Siaer’s unique scent. 'Hopefully, we run into some mages. I think I’ve got a little room for some bad karma.'
The journey was long and grueling, even with their immense speed. Hours passed before they finally reached the border of the Shattered Crags, an immense mountain range stretching endlessly in all directions. It’s endless jagged peaks pierced the sky, and the ground beneath their feet grew denser with earth mana.
Haku huffed in frustration, glancing around the desolate expanse. “If everything’s going to avoid us while you’re around, maybe I should take this next part by myself.” His irritation was obvious, the complete absence of beasts during their journey clearly wearing on his nerves.
Labrys raised a furry brow, his deep voice calm. “Don’t worry. I was letting my aura leak on purpose so we could get here quickly. I don’t think you have time to waste, do you?”
Haku exhaled sharply, his flames flaring briefly as he turned his gaze up the towering mountain before them. “You're right. But stay out of sight for this. Keep an eye on me if you want, but let me handle everything myself. Wait...change that. Stop anything way out of my league, but the rest is mine.” His blue eyes glowed with determination. “If I die, it’ll just mean I was too weak. But I’m not dying—not until Crowley’s dead.”
“Fair enough,” Labrys replied, his expression unreadable.
With a burst of flames, Haku tore into the inner area, his body shifting as he activated his ghost-form and vanished into the rocky expanse.
As Labrys watched him go, his molten eyes narrowed. His body tensed briefly as his thoughts wandered. With a sigh, he subconsciously reached for his crotch, sending a mental message to Siaer. 'I’ll need more of those damn fruits.'
----
Bounding through the cracked and jagged boulders that littered the mountainside, Haku grinned, his teeth flashing with excitement. 'This is how it should have been from the start!'
Leaping from rock to rock, his massive body felt almost weightless in his ghost-form. The speed and agility granted by his newfound strength left him in awe. He could feel the wind rushing past him as his movements were sharper and more precise than ever before.
Barely containing his laughter, he shook his head, forcing himself to focus. 'Remember why you’re here.' His grin faded, replaced by a determined expression. He began running through what he knew of the Shattered Crags. 'Three known species of mana-beast call this place home, the Chthonian Shardfang, the Cragbreaker Wurm, and the Burrowfang Terra Wyrm.'
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Pausing atop a jagged stone jutting out from the mountainside, Haku’s glowing eyes scanned the terrain. 'The Chthonian Shardfang should be the easiest to find.' His flames licked around him as he considered his next move. 'I should be ready for anything once I leave my ghost-form. I promised Darius I wouldn’t rely on it.'
With a final glance around the barren expanse, Haku prepared to dispel the technique. But before he did, he summoned two phantoms, his fiery clones erupting into existence beside him. His eyes widened as he took them in. “You too?!”
Both phantoms stood as tall as him now, their forms much more solid and defined than before. No longer just shapes of fire, their bodies mirrored his features, the contained flames swirling within them like molten cores. Even cloaked in invisibility, Haku could clearly see the improvements in their structure.
His claws itched to merge the phantoms and detonate them immediately, but he held himself back. Taking a deep breath, he steadied his thoughts. 'So far, I’ve gained a lot already. At this speed, I need to be cautious. Darius warned me about growing too fast without stabilizing my foundations.' Doing his best to imitate his brother, he lightened his voice, and exaggeratedly declared, "I need to gain real combat experience and focus on consolidating my gains."
Smirking, his gaze turned toward the rugged expanse of the Shattered Crags. 'The Celestial Beast Soul Mantra demands battle to progress. Until now, it’s been Darius doing most of the fighting.'
Slowly, his shimmering ghost-form faded, his enormous physical body revealing itself to the harsh environment. His obsidian fur bristled, and the dark blue flames licking his shoulders flared with newfound intensity. Standing tall against the backdrop of the cracked terrain, Haku’s voice was a quiet growl as he flexed his claws, his horns burning brightly.
“Now it’s my turn.”
His nose flared as he raised it to the wind, taking deep, deliberate breaths. Colors filled his mind, swirling and separating until the scent he was searching for became clear. “I was hoping for a Golem, but a Shardfang will do.” His burning tail swished excitedly. “Guess I’ll have to go deeper to find one of those, the books did say they were closer to the center.”
Leaping gracefully from the stone outcropping, Haku hit the ground at a sprint, his nose guiding him toward a ravine where another mountain towered in the distance. The scent grew stronger with every step, its intensity sharpening his focus.
“There’s more than one,” he muttered, slowing his pace as he approached a boulder the size of a tavern. Trotting to its shadowed side, he closed his eyes and lifted his nose again as he dimmed his flames. The air carried layers of information, and his senses carefully unraveled them. 'At least three—no, four. But they smell weak.'
He took another deep inhale, freezing mid-breath as something new hit his senses. Lowering his nose, his lips curled into a grin. 'Much better.'
Unlike his brother, who relied on his mana sense, Haku could gauge an opponent's strength purely from their scent. To him, the weight, density, and texture of a smell spoke volumes—subtle differences that Darius never seemed to grasp. Strength meant how close, density meant how powerful, and heavy scents signified how many.
This new scent carried a damp, matted musk, like stale sweat, with a stony, metallic tang that made his nose twitch. But what sealed it was the final note—a numbing, almost piney undertone. A Burrowfang Terra Wyrm. Its scent was dense, nearly on par with his own.
Peeking around the edge of the boulder, Haku’s fur bristled, and his heart began to race. “Kinda pretty in an ugly way.”
The strongest scent was perched on a granite shelf not far from where he stood, a Stage Two Shardfang sprawled lazily, its crystalline body reflecting the light. The creature stretched, exposing the jagged shards that jutted from it, soaking in the warmth of the sun like a lounging predator.
His eyes lingered, studying its sleek, angular form as his heart raced. 'So that’s a Stage Two Shardfang. Only about seventy-five Cauldrons of Force… should be easy, but it’ll be a pain if I attract the others'
Its body was a deadly blend of nature and mineral, with deep amethyst crystals jutting out from its spine, shoulders, and limbs, forming a jagged shell. These formations refracted the light, each sharp edge ready to slice through anything that came too close. The elongated snout of the beast gave it a serpentine appearance, its crystalline fangs glowed dangerously as it exhaled in slow, steady breaths.
The Shardfang’s solid black eyes reflected no light, only an unblinking, predatory focus. Its long tail, lined with jagged crystal spikes, twitched lazily, a silent warning that it was aware, even if it looked relaxed.
'That Crystal Armor is gonna be a pain—physical attacks won’t get me far without some serious force. But that tail…' His gaze locked onto the twitching appendage. 'Those spikes look like they could tear through steel. A second stage shouldn't be too much worry, but a third stage...'
He crouched lower as he considered his approach, 'it has the Crystal Mist ability. That's gonna be tricky. The second I smell it, it'll dull my senses. My flames should keep me safe but just in case, I’ll have to end it quick.'
Despite his growing strength, Haku felt a twinge of respect for the creature. The Shardfang was perfectly adapted for survival in the Shattered Crags, its claws capable of tearing through stone, its armor shrugging off blows, and its abilities built to disorient and dominate prey.
'It’s just a big rock lizard,' Haku muttered, his grin widening despite himself. 'This’ll be fun.'
He lowered himself further, flames rippling as his muscles tensed, his gaze locked onto the beast. The predator in him thrilled at the challenge. 'Time to show Labrys what I can really do.'
Haku harnessed every ounce of his newfound strength, leaping with explosive force. Just as his paws left the ground, he shifted back to his animal form, his smaller body propelling upward like a loosed arrow. 'Whoa!' The exhilaration of the flight surged through him, his flames rippling in his wake.
The sheer height he achieved caught even him off guard. 'Guess I overdid it,' he thought, hearing an all-too-familiar voice in his head. 'Always going at full strength,' Darius’s teasing tone echoed in his mind, 'like a bull trapped in a tea house.'
High above the ravine, Haku scanned the area. His sharp eyes quickly caught the reflective light of crystal from the Shardfangs below. 'Found you,' he thought, mapping their positions as he transformed.
The wind screamed past his ears as his descent began. Like a blazing blue comet, his form streaked toward the ground, leaving a large trail of fire in his wake. Adjusting his angle mid-fall, his eyes locked onto the unsuspecting 2nd Stage Shardfang.
The beast lay sprawled across its granite perch, its amethyst crystals absorbing the sun’s warmth. Having evolved in an environment free of aerial predators due to the region’s crushing gravity, it paid no attention to the sky above. Its only warning came in the form of a short whistle of rushing wind, followed by a sudden spike in temperature.
Then came silence.
BOOOOM!
The impact shattered the granite shelf, sending debris and blood exploding outward in a fiery storm. Before the dust could settle, Haku burst from the wreckage, flames roaring around his body.
His powerful legs drove him toward the next target—a smaller 1st Stage Shardfang perched on a lower ledge.
The younger beast barely had time to lift its head before he descended upon it. With a single bite from his jaws, the Shardfang’s head separated cleanly from its body, its crystal-studded tail twitching.
Not stopping for a moment, Haku pivoted, his paws slamming into the ground as he launched himself toward the remaining targets.
The next Shardfang, caught in the chaos, swiveled its head in confusion, its black eyes darting in search of the threat. Before it could react, blue flames enveloped its vision, claws tearing through its brain.
'One left!'
Haku darted forward, the blur of the terrain rushing past as he locked onto his next target. Ahead, the ravine widened into a dome-like opening, a natural amphitheater with a serene pond at its center. Near the water’s edge, a lone Cthonian Shardfang had been drinking, its jagged amethyst crystals large and reflecting the light of his flames.
'A third stage,' he thought, his pulse quickening.
Leaping at the beast, before he could execute his attack, his instincts flared, and with a swift tail swipe, he altered his trajectory mid-air just as a volley of razor-sharp crystals shredded through his afterimage.
The Shardfang’s solid black eyes locked onto him with precision, its tail already preparing another attack. New crystals sprouted almost instantly along its jagged length.
"That shouldn’t kill me outright... but I’m not about to test it," he muttered, his claws digging into the rocky ground as he bolted.
The beast hissed, its spiked tail lashing out again. Haku bounded off the cliff walls and rocks, his movements fluid and quick. In response, the Shardfang reared back, releasing a hiss that turned into a torrent of Crystal Mist, a shimmering grey fog that sparkled.
Holding his breath, Haku narrowly dodged another volley of crystals. The mist filled the area quickly, its dulling effect creeping over his senses. Cycling his mana faster, he forced the haze’s influence out of his body, but the beast’s persistence kept him on edge.
The Shardfang remained defensive, coiling back as it guarded its position. Its attacks were relentless, the sharp projectiles regenerating faster than Haku could close the distance.
'A third stage is as clever as a human child,' Haku thought, his growl low and frustrated. 'It knows I’m trying to end this quickly, and it’s stalling me with that damn tail.'
Dodging another barrage of crystal shards, he noticed something. Landing on a rock, he kept his eyes trained on the beast’s tail as it prepared its next attack. A grin spread across his face as the mist filled the ravine.
'It’s getting slower.'
The next volley confirmed it. The beast’s once-instant regeneration had begun to slow, the crystals taking slightly longer to reform.
'It’s weakening,' Haku thought, his strategy forming as he needed air. He leapt high, hovering above the mist’s edge, and took a deep breath before diving back in. Whipping his tail to adjust his angle, he dodged another attack, descending with increasing speed.
Below, the Shardfang’s tail whipped back into position, its crystals glowing faintly as it aimed. Before it could fire, a loud splash erupted from across the pond. The beast flinched, its spikes launching towards and missing the invisible phantom.
"Idiot."
With the beast distracted, Haku landed safely and resumed his assault. With his lungs refreshed, and using his agility, he baited attack after attack, forcing the Shardfang to exhaust its energy on crystal regeneration while abandoning its mist.
"This is it!"
Planting himself at the edge of the clearing, Haku’s claws dug deep into the ground as he skidded. His muscles coiled, flames rippling along his fur as he prepared for the final strike. The Shardfang hissed, curling defensively, its glowing crystals facing it's opponent.
Haku launched, his flames roaring as his massive body closed the distance.
BOOOOOM!
The ground erupted violently between them, sending shards of stone and debris flying. Haku skidded to a halt as a massive figure burst from the earth. The Burrowfang Terra Wyrm towered over the battlefield, its roar shaking the ravine walls.
"Now there’s two of you?!" Haku barked, leaping back to avoid falling debris. His flames flared as his core pulsed, mana surging through his veins.
A sudden pleasant, burning sensation spread through his chest, igniting a familiar, reckless grin.
"Fuck it!" He growled, his claws scraping against the stone. Flames spiraled around his massive form as he faced the beasts.
"I'll just kill you both!"