Her insides were already boiling at the thought of Zacharia’s words ringing in her head. She knew Cloud was right that the general was just pushing her buttons to get her motivated.
But it is that very same declaration that she had been denying this whole time. She knew already that she had relied on Zeke so much, as well as everyone, and that needed to stop.
Zeke is the sort that wouldn’t mind you asking him of the world and he would give it as long as it was reasonable, no matter how unreasonable it might be. It felt nonsensical, and half the time Zeke is just full of nonsense.
Still, she can’t help but admire that kind of trait. That’s why as his partner, she needed to make sure that nobody takes advantage of him. That also included herself.
A few hours after they left the would-be base for Eve Glade, Mikella and her group carefully moved ahead. So far, they’ve seen nothing but wide open areas filled to the brim with glowing crystals. It was hell on the eyes if one got close enough, almost acting like lightbulbs, but it was also obvious that there were some darkened parts that the lights couldn’t reach. It was those spots she looked out for as she gripped her sword tight.
She wished she had Myra to talk to. At least she could grumble about it. But unfortunately her group was made up of folks who she hadn’t really talked to at all. Paul was one thing–he was a nice guy but the two couldn't be more different. He prefers to stay on the sidelines, sneak around, and ambush when he can. She won’t disrespect his kind of fighting style, but that just wasn’t her thing.
Instead of a warrior, he was a Rogue, or a rogue-archetype. Asking him to fight fair and square would be the same as suicide for him. On the other hand, there were four other soldiers from Zacharia’s retinue, one of them being Nina the beast tamer.
Two men and one other woman. The two looked similar, wearing the same sort of leather armor that was easier for mobility than for combat. However, one was with darker skin with some piercings on his earlobes and bottom lip, the other with tattoos of claws across his left cheek and side of the neck. The one with the piercings carried two double-bladed daggers on both sides of his hips, known as haladies according to Mikella’s shitty knowledge on weapons.
The one with the tattoos had a bow instead, with a quiver at the back. She supposed not everyone had a handy Tempest Bow like hers that can conjure wind arrows at will. Then again, there was a reason why those weren’t popular as one’s attunement can easily affect the elemental aspected side of the weapon itself.
The final one was a woman with long hair to the side and a fade at the other, really making Mikella think of a modern look back in her old world. Dark skin with violet eyes, she had an intensity in them that was nearly the same as Piker. Rather than any finesse type of weapon, she instead carried a wand, like how a mage would have, holstered to her side. Other than that, she had nothing else on hand.
The three showed no sign of wanting to talk as they were clearly focused on surveying the land. Having no other choice, she decided to do the same, though she didn’t have any handy skill to help with that. The best she could do is keep a look out and act as an intermediary in case a monster showed up–though with a group of scouts, that seemed less likely to happen as they would just run.
She figured she was sent here due to being exactly that by the general. While she wasn’t keen on scouting, if nothing but scouts went ahead, it could spell trouble in case they got ambushed by some unknown monster. Figuring that she was also pretty damn fast for someone of her level, it was clear that she would fit with the scouts.
Putting aside her teammates, she glared up above to the ceiling, or at least she tried to. Trying to look up to see the end of the cavern was basically trying to see the stars beyond the stratosphere. It was too high up, and she knew that the darkness of the place had already covered where the light of the crystals couldn’t reach.
But as they kept walking further, they noticed that the cavern-like area wasn’t really that much of a cavern, but a truly living thing. Water seemed to flow across like small rivers around separate sections, and actual grass and moss could be seen spread across the natural rocks and ground everywhere they went.
She even noticed some bugs crawling about as she walked past, seeing what might have been a caterpillar slowly crawling across a plant-like thing. It looked like a flower, but it had that same crystalline feel to it, the leaves and the stem seemingly jagged.
“This place is incredible,” Paul spoke up, surprising MIkella as he was the first one to speak after a while.
“I heard biodomes were incredible, but seeing the actual thing still blows my mind,” Nina followed up. It looked like she didn’t like the silence as well as anyone else.
“You guys have never seen a biodome before? Not even over at the kingdom?” Mikella asked, figuring that she could learn more about the kingdom from Zacharia’s soldiers.
“The kingdom sends only the elite, or those that have capabilities to be elites to the biodomes,” Nina explained. Hearing the plural ‘Biodomes’ proved to Mikella just how powerful the kingdom was. “We were too low level to enter any of them, and our stats aren’t as high to handle it.”
“So yeah, having a biodome right here near us is damn lucky,” Paul said, giving out a short laugh. “Your hubby really is a good-luck charm.”
“Hah, if only…” Mikella said with a slight huff, though it was only to play along. Even she considers herself lucky to have Zeke by her side.
Though they certainly weren’t very lucky so far.
“You call it luck, but he almost killed us all with that explosion,” One of the men, the guy with the piercings and haladies, said with narrow eyes. “If we weren’t within the barrier, he could’ve decimated everyone.”
Mikella stared hard at the haladie-wielder. The way he made it sound like Zeke was some out-of-control monster was definitely not something Zeke should hear. He already felt bad enough as it is.
“Hey come on, no need for that,” Paul added, raising a hand. “Everything turned out well, and even Zeke gave us some warning before it happened. We even had the Journeymen with us.”
“Even so, are you actually certain about him?” The man with the tattoos responded this time. “For all we know, he could go and kill everyone there with that crazy power of his. Sure the Journeymen would survive, but would the rest of us?”
“There’s no way the general would allow that. He would just gut the mage before he even starts to flash,” The woman with the wand responded curtly, as if finishing the conversation with that.
Paul looked distressed, but not more so than seeing the visibly upset Mikella by his side. Nina was left quiet, already seeing the tension rise and not wanting to be a part of it. Even her owl familiar decided to avoid this situation entirely by flying off to do some scouting ahead.
Mikella knew they had a reason to worry. Not just that, but they also had a reason to doubt Zeke’s control. She could understand that they’d be afraid for their lives as well as their loved ones.
But to talk about it right in front of her? To say it out loud as though she wasn’t there ready to explode from the sheer animosity? Whether they were extremely confident in themselves or they believed Mikella was just some kitten unable to fight back, Mikella didn’t care.
She wasn’t going to stand by this.
“You sure are complaining a lot for soldiers seemingly known for being elite.”
Mikella stopped and turned back to the three. Paul and Nina seemed to already know what’s about to happen and wisely backed away. The three soldiers stood in front of her with perplexed expressions.
“What are you trying to say?” The man with the piercings responded with a glower. His hand was already nearing his halady as he glared at her.
Mikella scoffed. “Aren’t you guys supposed to be ready and prepared for any situation? So far, all I saw was a bunch of whiners that’s seeing the world for the first time. Rather than being worried about Zeke, why don’t you worry for yourselves first?”
“You got a lot of nerve to say that in front of us,” The man with the tattoos stepped forward. His hands were gripping tightly into fists. “Just because you threw Basil around a little doesn’t mean you’re better than any of us.”
“And why shouldn’t I be?” Mikella glared back at him. She could feel her lightning ready to take over her, but she willed it with pure adrenaline alone under her control. “That Basil guy seems pretty used in combat. And I’m sure as hell can beat any one of you three-on-one. So the better question is: Which one should you be more worried about; The barrier mage, or me?”
She spoke the last word with her eyes shining bright yellow, unconsciously flaring Hawk Eyes as lightning coiled around her. The three scouts in front of her visibly tensed, but they didn’t falter as each one had their hands over their weapons. Mikella didn’t want a fight right here and now, but like how Zeke handled Piker back before the undeath dungeon, if she doesn’t nip this pretentious bullshit in the bud, they’re just gonna keep gnawing at her patience.
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Just as she was about to summon her sword for a friendly ‘spar’, Nina suddenly shouted in a harsh whisper.
“Guys! Piggy spotted an enemy approaching. Hide!”
Her warning caught everyone in a whirl as movements surged in their group. Paul and the three scouts she confronted immediately activated some skill or spell, turning themselves harder to see or move away quickly. The girl with the wand even twirled her weapon as a soft gentle breeze took over, turning her nearly entirely invisible. Some sort of wind magic was involved, but Mikella couldn’t care less.
She pulled out the Cloak of Darkness Zacharia let her borrow. The cloak coiled around her instead of her lightning, her attunement turning off immediately once seeing the danger. She ran back towards the cluster of crystals, taking hold of the single dark spot that the lights couldn’t reach. As she made it there, she let the cloak deal with the rest, trying to hide her presence as much as she could.
She let the silence hang in the air, the darkness comforting her slightly.
Before she could figure out a way to handle this new situation before her, she saw the creature Nina warned them about. It trotted over with gigantic feet similar to pillars than actual feet. Round hooves, perhaps, as it craned its neck to reveal its form.
It looked like a crystal version of a camel, two humps on the back with a similar shape overall. Some obvious differences was that this camel was buff as hell, muscles that seemed jacked despite being made of crystal. Its topaz-like eyes shuffled as it turned its head left and right. Then, it lowered its head and literally took a big chunk of crystal into its mouth and ate it.
The sound was similar to rocks crushing rocks, grating Mikella’s ears. At least no matter what noise she made, the damn thing won’t be able to listen, unless its hearing was better than she expected. Not wanting to miss the chance, she Identified the creature.
Crystal Bison, Level 63
That’s a bison?! What’s with these monsters being something else other than their looks?
She made that thought before she realized something else.
Wait, is this really a Journeyman rank monster?
She couldn’t believe it. The first time she saw the Journeyman rank monster was the Red-Maned giant, and that thing had a pretty intense aura around it, with muscles and everything. While this… bison was impressive to look at, she didn’t see anything intimidating about it. If anything, it looked more like an herbivore than a predator.
After a few minutes passed, more of the bison came around to eat their fill. Then, after a while of grazing against the crystals, they slowly trotted out to somewhere else. After another minute came around, not wanting to lose her stealth, she noticed Paul and the others coming out.
“Gods, a Journeyman rank monster,” The one with the tattoos shook his head. “To think something that powerful was just lounging around. Is that considered a mob creature?”
“It didn’t seem that powerful,” Paul mentioned. “We saw one before we entered the tower. It was leagues different from this one. Even if the level range is the same, I think they’re just lower in power.”
“I agree.”
Mikella said as she flowed outwards towards them in her dark cloak. She realized that the Cloak of Darkness was actually taking up her mana when she was hiding, so she took it off and put it back into her storage pack. It was easy to do, thankfully.
Everyone noticed her cloak but said nothing of it. They were probably notified by Zacharia, so she was glad she didn’t have to explain where she got it and get into some weird argument.
But the tense atmosphere was still around. She wanted to go further, want to go back to fighting them and teaching them a lesson.
But she decided to be a bigger woman and spoke first.
“Listen,” Mikella said, getting their attention. “I get that you’re worried, and I don’t blame you. But Zeke is human, just like the rest of us. He can make mistakes too. He’s even wearing that collar to control his magic if you hadn't noticed.”
Mikella stated, noticing that when Zeke cast his magic or runes, he had that look on his face as though he had bad gas. Still, he hasn’t complained once. If Mikella was the one to wear it, she would take it off immediately if there was no need for magic, but he never took it off at all.
“Mages really do hate wearing that collar,” Nina pointed out, surprising Mikella. “And… I don’t think he’s a bad guy.”
“He isn’t,” Paul said, turning to the three. “He saved our lives more times than I can count. Even if he blows up again, I’ll still be by his side. Because I’m getting way more benefits with him as our comrade than with him as an enemy.”
Though Mikella wished Paul wasn’t so heavily honest like that, she still understood the man’s intentions. The other three looked slightly uncomfortable at this, then the one with the piercings nodded.
“Fine,” The man said. “Let’s just keep going. We don’t have time to play around anyways.”
“My guess exactly,” Mikella agreed. She still wanted to punch him in the face, but that can wait for future training. “So, where to next?”
…..
Thankfully, the group hasn’t evolved into a potentially fatal sparring match, much to Mikella’s disappointment. Still, they made great progress throughout the biodome, at least around two or three percent of it. That alone took several more hours than they had expected, and there was way too much crap going on to truly focus on scoping out the place.
For instance, the area where their base was near to was a wide array of crystals similar to flower gardens, each one displaying the level of natural beauty, but once they were away from that area, they spotted several more of the bisons, each one having a level range of 60 and above. The one they spotted, the level 61, was actually something of a recently newborn that strayed off the path.
On the other side were several more creatures, ones supposedly more herbivores which again were at the Journeyman rank. But then they spotted what they believed to be a carnivore.
A massive creature similar to a car in size stumbled in and mauled one of the bisons, easily breaking through the crystal-like muscles with its sharp fangs. The creature in question looked more like a canine, but there were horns jutting out of its head, spikes at each of its legs’ joints. Its claws and fangs were a colorful ruby red, and the blood that was dribbling down its mouth thanks to the bison was a colorful rainbow, possibly the biodome’s features that all the creatures here had rainbow-like blood.
The creature was known as the Crystal Hunter, and its level was 72. However, it was clear that it's heavily relying on its power and speed than the natural defenses of the bison, something that it clearly worked for considering its own name.
Finally, they spotted some flying creatures. At first, Mikella thought it was the one Zeke spotted before, but these flew in a flock, and this time they weren’t made of crystal. They looked like natural birds, but they each had a small crystal embedded in chests, this time a sparkling green.
Mikella wondered whether those were actually significant, showing what elements they were specializing in. The Crystal bison for instance had a yellowish coloring with some brown tint, and the hunter was red.
If I know my colors, red usually means fire, yellow being earth, and green being wind or air…
Considering the buff made by the biodome, this seemed to be aligned. Even the other scouts agreed to this, making this valuable information to know.
Eventually, they were running out of supplies and headed back to the base. Mikella, on the way there, suggested rather than asked if it was possible to try fighting against one of the bisons at least, being so weak as it was since it was treated as prey for the hunters.
“I know you’re strong, but let’s not push it,” The one with the piercings and haladies responded. “Even if you do take it down, it’s possible the noise might attract other monsters. Perhaps even the blood might bring in those Hunters. It’s possible that they could be packs, at least from what I surmise of their canine-like behavior.”
For once, Mikella agreed to the haladie guy. She was keen on wanting to take out a Journeyman Rank monster on her own without Zeke finding out about it, but even she knew that she wasn’t powerful enough to handle a group of those hunters, even if she was able to run away.
Perhaps in an ambush using the Cloak of Darkness to take out one Hunter with her Tempest Bow, maybe charged with her lightning, but that’s just a one-off tactic. She even noticed that because she didn’t argue about it any further, there was a certain respect in their eyes. They’d probably believe that she didn’t care much about anything else other than fighting monsters.
Not that she would blame them. How else can she get experience otherwise?
They returned back to the base with a map made by the guy with the tattoos drawn exceptionally well. Even the usually directionally-challenged Mikella can read it with ease.
When they returned to the base, they were surprised to find a giant barrier surrounding it, but only for a few seconds as the scouts went ahead. Mikella worried whether Zeke was pushing it too far again, but hearing about the convenient Mana generator by Paul, she relaxed a little.
They stepped up to the barrier and passed right through with ease. Though looking at how thick the barrier was in between, it was certainly fortified to handle against outside attacks. But just as she spotted Zeke in the distance and ready to ask about what they did so far, she gaped at the sight.
“A pair of Kings and Queens.”
“Godsdamit, how does he do it!?”
“That’s not fair! You’re using some skill, aren’t you!?”
Zeke was smiling like an idiot, displaying an impressive display of pairs on the makeshift table while the two healers he was playing cards with grumbled at him. When he looked back and saw who appeared, Zeke grinned.
“Hey! You’re back!” Zeke said, lifting up the cards that someone must have brought in. “Wanna play poker?”
Mikella’s jaw was slacked from the sight, and when the scouts returned and saw, immediately going away to do their own business, she stepped over with a huff.
“Aren’t you supposed to be working on making a… thing or something out of here?” Mikella asked while pointing up with her finger.
“I already did,” Zeke shrugged. “Cloud took over after that. He said I shouldn’t be using that much magic, so when I didn’t have much else to do, these guys offered to play cards.”
“And we regret it!” Rajin, the half-elf healer shouted with Casia nodding in approval.
“Everyone’s saying he’s a lucky charm, maybe he really is just lucky,” She muttered to herself, and Zeke could only chuckle.
“Be lucky we didn’t make this interesting,” Zeke said with a smirk. “So, would you guys mind if she played?”
“Sure, we don’t mind,” Casia said, forgetting about the injustice and nodding to Mikella.
“Is this… really okay?” She asked again. Zeke nodded in agreement. Figuring that there was no harm, she decided to sit down near him. “Alright, but let me warn you–I play a mean poker face.”
She immediately lost against Zeke three more times after that. Apparently her poker face was just very active.