Weeks later, in the south, Wyland was sitting at the white, rocky shore, watching the calm ocean as it was gently washing up against his naked feet.
"I can't even recognize you by now." Toobu laughed as he walked up to him, sitting down next to his friend.
"Really?" He smiled with genuine happiness, only wearing the same loose rags as the villagers. It was also true for Toobu.
"Yep! You are the happiest that I have ever seen you yet! Your eyes are also free of doubt or tiredness! Good job! Or should I say this to your new wives?" He asked with a grin, patting his back with such force it made Wyland cough.
"Eh… um… no? P-please? They are relentless anyway, so don't feed them any ideas!" He replied as he twitched his mouth.
"Oh? You are the first guy I have ever heard complaining about something like this!" Toobu laughed.
"Oh, r-really? What about you and Q-qeena? Was she not arguing with you strongly that you forbade her from following you on this mission?" He asked back, raising his eyebrows.
"That is different!" Toobu protested immediately, "It would have been too dangerous in her state, so she should stay home! It is safe in the Sect! Also… I was afraid I would change and never be able to come back to her like I was before." He sighed, as when Ren called up on him, he was sure he would not be the same Toobu as before.
"Yeah… I u-understand… Thankfully, it turned out differently! Wait… What d-did you say? In her s-state? What- oh… ooooh! R-R-r-r-really?!" He gawked while Toobu's face twitched as he had not told anyone yet, but he let it slip out now.
"Y-yeah… she told me a few months ago; Elder Dermitos also confirmed it when we went to him for a checkup. Please don't spread it yet! I am afraid if Ren gets wind of it, she won't trust me with further missions, just to protect me! I don't want to be left out of this!"
"O-okay, I'll z-zip my mouth!" Wyland nodded with a grin, and now he was patting Toobu's back. “C-congratulations, p-papa~.”
"Brrr, don't call me that, idiot! It's creepy coming from your mouth!" Toobu said as he shook his whole body.
"What is creepy?" A chiming voice came as Kyu prattled toward them.
"That we still have plenty of fish to eat, yet you are here with us." Both of them answered at the same time.
"Eh? I am not that big of a glutton!" She crossed her arms before her chest, puffing up her cheeks. "Now, I won't tell you!"
"Tell us what?" Toobu asked as he raised his eyebrow.
"Nothing!"
"Kyu… come on… please?" He tried to egg her, but she just turned her head.
"What i-if I give you t-this?" Wyland asked as he took out a dried fish, tossing it towards her. She just caught it with her mouth, crunching on it happily as soon as it left his hand.
"Hmf, okay!" She nodded in the end. "Frenir told me to tell you he spotted another three cultivators heading towards us. Heldi has already activated the illusion spells around the village!"
"Damn it! You should've started with that!" The duo cursed as both of them stood up hurriedly.
"W-w-what about the v-villagers?" Wyland asked quickly.
"They are down in the shelter already!" Kyu answered.
"Good!" Toobu said while he dusted his hands. Wyland was already hurrying back to the village.
"I'll r-reinforce the protective f-formations." He said while they also followed him back.
"Relax, brother!" Toobu caught up to him with a laugh. "Everything will be fine, just like last time. Just follow the plan!"
While they were returning to the village to join up with the rest, on the dirt road leading to the small village, three 'travelers' walked with a fixed, seemingly slow yet quick pace. Faster than any average human could ever do. The one in the front was the same who brought the news to Neiro, now wearing only worn-out leather armor, the usual telling sign of an amateur adventurer.
"Captain Marjo, are we sure this route is not compromised?" The middle-aged bald man spoke behind him, carrying a polearm on his shoulders.
"You are paranoid, Ednar." The last in line answered. He was a younger-looking guy with brown, messy hair, and a giant, bronze, jar-like thing was strapped to his back. "If we are not ambushed three times a day, you suspect something bad is happening to us in the next ten minutes. Every. Fucking. Time."
"I always expect the worst. That is how you stay alive for this long, Pax!" He replied calmly, looking back over his shoulder.
"This village was chosen because of its isolation from civilization. It is the perfect backup plan! They call in the ship for us, and we sail away to our new life until Boss calls us again into action." Marjo smiled with confidence.
"Still… Why did we place grunts here instead of trustworthy people?" Ednar grumbled, clearly annoyed at the notion of low-ranking members tasked with this mission.
"Duh!" Pax kicked his butt from behind. "Use your head more, retard! We are the last group leaving; do you want to leave loose ends behind? Fuck no! When the ship comes, we kill 'em all alongside the villagers! Board the ship, kill those poor fucks too, and we are off! Nobody left to snitch on us, easy peasy!"
"Just as he said." Marjo chuckled. "We don't want to sacrifice our own, and Boss has only a handful of us he can trust completely! We were needed at his side!"
"We should be still at his side…." Ednar said after a bit of silence. "Is he going to fight that small bitch alone? We should gang up on her!"
"You are not the sharpest among us, huh?" Pax sighed again. "How do you think Boss will fake his death if we help him? Geez, you were the last from our group to learn how to read; no wonder you are still this slow!"
"Fuck you!"
"Sorry, I'm only into younger boys, old man! Your ass is already too saggy for my taste!" Pax replied as he shook his head.
"Can you two shut the fuck up?" Marjo groaned. "You can get a room on the boat and suck each other's dick off for all I care. Just don't start this again, okay? You two always go in circles like a stuck-on cockring, for fucks sake!"
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
As they argued, they were also nearing the village, seeing the thin and downtrodden people going about their lives amongst their huts. They were carrying large sacks on their backs or buckets filled with fish and water.
"Stop! Who are you?!" Toobu's voice came towards them as he walked out from the houses, coming before the trio. He was holding a fragile-looking wooden spear in his hands.
"Oh, we are just travelers here to check out the scenic sea route!" Marjo replied with their cue, and Toobu quickly changed his attitude and cupped his hands, bowing deeply.
"Welcome, Senior!"
"How's it going?" He walked up to him, patting his shoulders with a friendly smile while Ednar and Pax barely managed to hold back their laughter, amused by how nice Marjo was acting even though they were going to massacre them soon.
"Everything went smoothly!" Toobu explained, leading them into the village, "There were only a few troubles when some lost merchants or a group of local bandits arrived, but we took care of them. Also, the previous batches have all been shipped away! I'll signal them to come and pick you up. They should arrive soon enough."
"Good. When we leave, you are going to get your rewards!" He placed his hand on Toobu's shoulder.
"Thank you!" Toobu smiled at him with apparent anticipation in his eyes.
"Damn… Captain, you are one cold motherfucker… toying with the boy like this. Savage!" Pax sent a voice transmission to Marjo.
"Let him die with a happy expression." Marjo replied before speaking up again, "First, call everyone here. We need to give you some new orders!"
"Yes, sir!" Toobu saluted as he led them into the middle of the small village.
It took only a few minutes to assemble the 'rest' before Marjo looked over them with a friendly smile.
"Everyone is here. We also notified the ship. It is going to come to shore in ten minutes or so!" Toobu arrived back, a bit out of breath, looking like he was hurrying to suck up to them.
"Good job, brothers!" Marjo clapped his hands. "Let us first give you all a reward you deserve!" He laughed, stepping backward.
"You are all going to love this!" Pax grinned, taking the place of his captain, taking off the massive jar from his back while the 'Ironclaw members' watched on with curiosity.
What they saw next was a quick flash of red light, followed by the roar of a mythical dragon, as a column of fire burst out from the bronze jar, blasting the group in the face, burning so intensely the salty ground below them started to shizzle.
"Bwahahaha, suckers!" Pax laughed with a roar, but Ednar's face soon went stiff behind him.
"Something is wrong!" He spoke up hurriedly.
"Stop the paranoia!" Pax scoffed, but Marjo also agreed with him.
"The building!" He shouted as he looked behind the still-roaring flames coming out from his comrade's weapon.
"Shit, it's a trap!" Ednar groaned, and Pax could see it by now, watching the straw hut resisting his flames without catching on fire, shining in a strange, multicolored light.
"Too late." Toobu's voice came as his body devoured all flames, forming fiery gloves around his arms. He appeared before them once again with a calm expression. "Geez, you guys are cold! Killing your men like this."
He shook his head, reprimanding them as the people he brought out slowly disintegrated into a pinkish smoke. It was the same for the horrified figures of the locals, watching them, as it turned out, none of them were real. Finally, they could notice Heldi standing at the top of a building, further away, canceling the illusion from before. Wyland stood next to her, holding a formation plate in his hands, controlling the defense around the buildings so they wouldn't be destroyed.
"Aaaah, you ate all the flames! Not faaaair!" Kyu landed next to Toobu, looking at his hands. "I wanted that yummy, spicy food! Meanie!" She grabbed onto the edge of his clothing with an annoyed look.
"Ahaha, ask him to use that weird weapon again!" Toobu chuckled, pointing at Pax.
"Kill them all!" Marjo shouted, summoning a colossal battle hammer and raising it above his head. Rocks flew up from the ground, fusing with it, doubling the weapon's size. He was about to bring it down on Toobu when his eyes flinched, sensing something strange.
"Kyu?" Toobu asked quickly, seeing she was not even reacting to the incoming attack.
"That does not look tasty. I don't want it." She replied, still sulking, keeping her eyes on the guy with the bronze jar.
"Leave it to me." Frenir's voice traveled over to them. "Toobu, take care of the other guy with the halberd."
"Sure." He flew forward, easily dodging the incoming hammer strike.
"What is… going… on?" Marjo mumbled, echoing his comrades' voices as he saw his swinging hand slow down to a crawl, feeling like he was moving in slow motion while their enemies were lightning fast.
"Don't be afraid. It is normal to feel weird at first." Frenir chuckled as he appeared from nowhere at the spot where Toobu stood a moment ago. "Let me sync you up with me!" He clapped as Marjo's hammer-holding hand sped up again, but his strike missed its target, hitting the open ground only.
"W-w-what is happening to me?!" He trembled as he saw everything else around them as if they were moving at a snail's pace. Toobu was wielding two whips made out of flames extending from his hands. He was still in a mid-air jump, trying to disarm the halberd-wielding Ednar, while Kyu's mouth was open grotesquely wide, in a completely unnatural way, gulping down flames coming from the jar of Pax.
"Trippy, isn't it?" Frenir chuckled, wearing the Sect's black and purple robe as he floated above him a few meters in the air. He looked down with a small smile, holding his hands behind his back. "I needed a few years to get used to it too, but now it is almost normal, seeing the world like this." He said, looking around. "I grew up like this, you know! Now I am waaaay older than my own older brother is! Sometimes it still messes with my head, ehehe…." He smiled, still finding it funny and strange at the same time.
"Who are you…?" Marjo asked with a trembling voice, realizing he was probably under the effect of the strange man's powers before him.
"Someone who wants to see you dead," Frenir answered, slowly floating down, and even though Marjo wanted to raise his weapon, he was terrified to notice that he could barely do so. His own hands only reacted way later than his thoughts. His fingers were just starting to flex around the shaft of his weapon, still barely beginning to lift it upwards, yet his brain was perceiving that he should've already struck out multiple times by now. "Your… Sect… Nah, I should not even call it that! Your ragtag of a gang killed someone who I looked up to… I want to kill you now sooo, sooo much, you could not believe it! Yet I can't. I need to keep you alive so my dear Senior Sister can scourge your brain herself!" Frenir sighed, drawing out a slender, whip-like weapon wrapped around his waist. With a wave of his hand, it snapped into a straight blade. "But I don't think you need your hands for that, yes?"
"Stop!" Marjo shouted, but he was screaming in a deep, slowed-down voice. Frenir was already wrapping his sword back around his waist by the time he said that one word. "Huh?" He blinked his eyes, thinking to himself. Then he could see both of his hands spinning slowly beside him, separated from his torso, drawing a long, bloody trail behind them.
"Stay put! I'll come back for you." Frenir said as he stepped past him, gently patting his face. For Frenir, time was flowing normally again while behind him, the dismembered body of Marjo was looking like he froze in time. He was standing still, just like a statue, his arms floating beside him, only connected to his torso by a trail of blood. The sound of the others' battles suddenly assaulted Frenir's ears as he watched Kyu swallow the flames whole, finally chomping down, biting the weapon in Pax's hands into two. She was munching on the metal-like snacks with a satisfied expression.
"M-monster!" Pax screamed, but Kyu transformed her left leg into her demonic form, stomping on him, crushing his bones, and drawing a scream out from his mouth.
"I caught one!" Kyu shouted, waving towards Frenir and letting out a loud, satisfied burp, traveling far and wide in the village.
"Me too." Toobu smiled, disarming Ednar with his flaming whips, pushing him to the ground, freezing his body as he drained his energy out of his body.
"Good job!" Frenir nodded as he crossed his arms. "With this, we captured almost a dozen people who were part of the inner circle of these scum!" He smiled with a savage look in his eyes. "Gentlemen," He spoke to the two, "When the ship arrives, it will bring you up on the Shert to my Senior Sister's Thunder Valley! Please… enjoy the sightseeing as you probably won't leave there… ever again." He clapped with a laugh, and they could hear Marjo's painful screaming as time finally restarted for him… yet it was too late. Even though he was alive and would survive, this was not true for his mind. For him, days passed as he stood there, frozen in place with his arms floating beside him, screaming to himself without anything ever changing, driving him into complete madness.
"Now, only their leader remains!" Toobu said as he watched their faces with coldness.
"D-don't worry." Wyland came down next to them, placing Ren's modified slave collars on their necks. "She won't l-lose to s-scum like t-these."