“Heavens, how I hate this place!” Alice complained.
The last month hasn’t been the most fun for the young lady. For the fourth time they were deployed to the very north of the Savage realm, near the city Hammerfest. The signs of an upcoming beast tide were all there, but even though it was always a false alarm and the city and its people were safe, the students began to feel cheated.
Besides the fact that they barely got any contribution points, the only one who felt comfortable around these parts was the Ice queen Lily. These lands were the true reason for the Savage realm’s name – endless mountain ranges, covered in snow and ice, lacking any trees or anything that was of other color than white. In addition, the howling wind and low temperatures made even fire affinity cultivators like Alice and Claude miserable, to not speak about the rest. Even Musa, being at the Nascent soul stage, was found at the bonfire in Leo’s cave more often than doing scouting.
Right, the caves. This was the thing Alice despised the most. Normally the squad would set up a camp and cultivate in tents in case the weather was rainy. Here though, they had to find a cave to stay in or carve a new one for themselves. A regular tent simply couldn’t handle the local winds.
There was another problem. The days here up in the north lasted months. And while it might sound interesting or romantic, after staring at bright white color for days, one would begin to turn blind. As the result the students at the Core formation stage were stuck in their caves waiting, while the leading trio inspected surroundings for abnormalities.
It was unbelievable humans decided to build a city, carved in the mountain right here, in the very north. In fact, judging by the numbers of inhabitants it was only a large town, but held a high level of importance. The locals here were mining a rare ore, pivotal for the construction of the teleportation platforms, but apart form lucrative opportunities to quickly become rich, this was a frozen hell.
The beasts in this region were also rather peculiar. They were three to four feet long, dark colored lizards who lived mostly under the snow and ice, and fed on minerals. It was a mystery how and why cold blooded animals were living here, but what upset Leo the most was that their flesh tasted disgusting no matter how he tried to cook it.
“Can’t they finally fix their demonic formation?” Alice complained again, “What a bunch of pussies, that Army of Freedom. If they could get their shit together we already would’ve been back in the academy!”
“If only it was that simple.” Claude tried to calm his sister down.
“What if we killed all the beasts around these mountain ranges? There wouldn’t be any risk of a beast tide, right?” Alice pondered out loud.
“Would you like to suggest it to elder Jabari?” Claude grinned back at her.
“Incoming!”
A sudden shout lifted the spirits of all students and they sprung out of the caves, full of energy. While Alice was the only one who loudly complained, most shared her thoughts and now, when the beast tide actually began, everyone felt a relief.
It was hard to tell what went on under the thick layer of snow and ice and how far the first wave of the beast tide was. Students rushed to their defensive positions, but were met with one of the Hammerfest’s Nascent soul stage experts, Ole Rehnquist.
“Follow me!” He ordered.
“We’re supposed to hold them off here!” Musa argued, but the local didn’t bend.
“Change of plans!” He said in a manner that didn’t allow any objections.
“It’s their city.” Lily snorted and led her squad after Ole Rehnquist.
To the great surprise of the students, they were brought across the mountain the city was build in and on the other side they were met with the crowd of locals – it looked like the whole Hammerfest had gathered here. This didn’t make any sense since the beast tide surely would demolish the city on the way here and fighting here, on a wide snowy field was surely disadvantageous for humans.
Musa obviously realized that as well and began to position the students in a defensive formation, when Ole Rehnquist stopped him.
“Don’t bother. Watch!”
For a while nothing happened. Students were still confused while the crowd expectantly stared at the mountain beneath which was their current home. But then something shot out in the sky from the top of the mountain and was followed by loud cheers from the crowd.
The confused students didn’t manage to react when another earthquake, this time much stronger followed. And then another one, even stronger and then … with a deafening boom the mountain collapsed, almost imploded, rising a huge cloud of dust and snow.
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Leo blanked out at the scene, but a poke to his shoulder returned him to the reality.
“That’s our city lord for you, huh?” A short, bearded man with an oversized flagon in hand stood next to him, “Those morons from the so called ‘Alliance of Freedom’ should’ve first thought who they are setting up for a beast tide! On the other hand, thanks to their stupidity we have eliminated thousands of those annoying pests in one go! No one will bother our miners anymore.”
“What about the Hammerfest?” Leo finally understood what happened, but the city also was gone along with the beasts.
“Look! This is the Hammerfest!” The shorty pointed at the crowd that was dancing, singing and drinking alcohol from similar flagons to what he held, “We’ll just carve a new home in any other mountain – there’s plenty of those, haven’t you noticed? Hahaha!”
He laughed and pressed the flagon in Leo’s hands and then joined the dancing party. Leo sighed and walked further to the side, but it took him some time to get far enough where the dirty snow from the explosion hadn’t reached.
He sat on the side of a cliff and sniffed the alcohol. It seemed rather cheep, but after tasting it Leo was forced to acknowledge it was ‘the good stuff’. It warmed him up from the inside and for a split moment he felt as if it was the middle of a summer.
“They blew up their own city and killed most of the beasts.” Musa landed next to him and explained.
“Mhm.” Leo nodded, “These crazy bastards are quite resolute.”
“Sigh. The city lord explained that they can always carve few holes in another mountain, but every single life of his people is priceless. What a man …” Musa said, shaking his head.
“Wanna sip?” Leo offered the flagon, but Musa immediately refused.
“I don’t drink.” He said.
Leo shrugged and said, “I don’t either.”
But then took a large mouthful and savored the burning sensation.
They sat there in silence for a while, each deep in their own thoughts until Leo spoke first.
“You know? Many years ago I got this stupid idea that alcohol is a magic cultivation supplement called ‘Firewater’. I think some sailors tricked me or something.”
“How old were you?” Musa asked with a grin.
During the past year Leo had never seen his squad leader laugh and grinning was the only way he showed his amusement.
“I think I was five.” Leo said, “I had to spend a really long time on a ship back then, although I don’t remember most of it … not because it was long ago, although it was, it’s because I was constantly wasted … a five year old alcoholic, can you imagine?”
“The crew made you drink?” Musa was surprised.
“No, all were dead. Some guys killed my father … stabbed in the back and then everyone on the ship, including my mothers and sisters were wiped out.” Leo said. It was sad, but not painful to remember those days. Maybe it was too long ago.
“So you couldn’t avenge your father?” Musa’s grin had disappeared and his expression had turned dark.
“Technically I could … that was an assassination ordered by someone. I thought of it many times … I could find the people who were behind it, kill them … but then what?” Leo mused.
“What do you mean? Isn’t it your duty as the son to avenge your father, your family?” Musa was surprised by the attitude.
“I also thought so at first … but … the guys I would kill … and at my current level I can easily dominate the whole region … what about their children? Should I kill them as well? Since they will have to avenge the deaths of their fathers, right?” Leo really didn’t like this subject, but took another mouthful from the flagon and calmed down a bit. Then he continued, “Do you realize? I would need to destroy a whole mortal realm in order for no one to come back and seek the revenge from me!”
“So you better do nothing?” Musa seemed disappointed.
“Until I figure it out, at least.” Leo nodded, “I don’t intend to kill a bunch of people just because I’m unhappy!”
A slightly awkward silence made Leo take few more gulps, but it was enough for him to continue, “Look at us, here … a bunch of guys who call themselves an army of whatever are killing thousands of people … for what? No matter whom someone doesn’t like, they should just get it over one on one! Why kill people who have nothing to do with it?! It’s stupid!”
“What if … what if they didn’t just kill your family? What if they destroyed everyone you once loved? Your home, your sect?” Musa asked, but it was hard to tell if the question was addressed to himself or Leo.
“Same shit!” Leo nonchalantly said, but then realized the topic was not hypothetical.
Musa was just like him! Someone has killed off all of his people!
“Sorry, man!” Leo awkwardly said, “I didn’t know. Anyway, I won’t judge you no matter what you decide to do. In fact, if you need any help – let me know. Although I’m not a Nascent soul stage cultivator yet, elder Li said that it’s just a matter of time until I got my tribulation. I’ll help you out afterwards.”
“You? Help?” Musa had confusion written all over his face.
“Of course! We’re friends!” Leo laughed back at his weird squad leader and had another sip from the flagon. For some reason Firewater tasted especially good today.
The three squads didn’t return to the academy empty handed. Besides the valuable tactical experience the last deployment provided, Hammerfest’s city lord entrusted them with the blueprints of his own invention that he called ‘the very special doodad’.
That was the device that attracted all beasts in Hammerfest and made them gather in one spot, allowing to eliminate all in one go. Of course, without supporting runic formations and enough power to blow up the mountain it wouldn’t have worked, but the city lord made sure it did and his citizens didn’t loose a single hair in the process.
The moment elder Roon got his hands on the blueprint, he locked himself away from the world for a more thorough research. The only thing he allowed was to make one copy to send to the experts of the Golden city so the experts there could lend a hand as well. It was an unorthodox approach, but it provided the cities with options while defending against beast tides. If there really was a possibility to divert or at least somewhat manipulate the direction of the beast tides, ‘the very special doodad’ could save tens of thousands, if not millions of human lives!
There was one person who was unhappy with everything that went on – elder Jabari kept cursing the Alliance of Freedom, Hammerfest’s city lord, elder Roon and the rest of the runemasters. They all were working on ways to kill more beasts, but since it looked like soon there will be no more beasts in the world, there was no need for beast masters either, right?