“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Seth darted away from the wide swing of a shroud wraith. Clawed hands clawing through the air were his head had once been. Gunag’s words registered in his mind but he ignored it as he turned his handgun on the wraith and shot it in the head. The kick back from the gun was as heavy as his rifle’s and it forced his hand up after the shot. The shroud wraith staggered back, pushed by the force of the bullet but did not fall.

That’s one persistent beast, one of his minds thought.

He disengaged himself from the fight, ran the breadth of the high corridor and vaulted over the protective balustrade. He hit the ground twenty feet below and groaned in pain as he felt a crack in his leg. At this rate he’d fall from a terrible height one day and his reia would be unable to heal him. But since that day was not today, he banished the idea.

Gunag landed heavily beside him, dropping to his knees.

“You can’t keep wandering all over this place,” he snapped. “There’re a lot of silver beasts here. And what made you think you could take on a shroud wraith?”

Gunag was a silver mage and a three-star adventurer. He was a man with blonde hair and a small mouth. His gold eyes were interesting to look at and his ginger hair was almost red. His face was white with tiny freckles that wanted to remind Seth of Norman who’d died to the seminary’s first test.

He wore heavy armor, but not as heavy as Silver Knight. Nobody wore armor as heavy as Silver Knight.

Gunag’s was practical.

It was a steel armor that protected his entire body. It had no helmet which he claimed impeded his vision. Its parts were thin and didn’t cover his entire body. There were gaps here and there, chinks in the armor an enemy could pierce, and beneath them he wore tough, protective leather. His left shoulder guard was larger than the other and resembled a falling drop of water. On it was inscribed a word Seth did not know and had never bothered to ask.

Gunag rose to his feet and looked up at the height they’d dropped from, his massive halberd in hand. He was looking for the shroud wraith. After a moment, he looked down at Seth.

“Need a moment to catch your breath?” he teased, with an impish smile.

Seth nodded painfully. He would’ve chuckled if his leg didn’t hurt so much. Still, his reia was doing its job, reaching out to whatever he’d broken to fix and mend. So he remained still until his leg was back to working condition.

Then he stood.

Gunag shook his head, still smiling. “I swear Iron mages shouldn’t be making that kind of jump.” He looked up again then back down. “That must’ve been twenty feet. You’re supposed to have broken something.”

Seth chuckled behind his shawl. “Who said I didn’t.”

His senses flared at the same time Gunag turned and swung his halberd. Seth moved at the warning, turned his gun up and pulled the trigger.

The shroud wraith appeared midair. It was an inch beyond Gunag’s reach and the blade of his weapon soared past it. Seth’s shot, however, had no such limitations. It met the wraith where it appeared.

The wraith burst out of view before his bullet struck true and Seth groaned in displeasure.

Gunag moved into a combat stance, holding his weapon back and away from him in one hand. He stood alert, waiting for what would come next and Seth joined him, knees crouched slightly.

“Over twenty shroud wraiths and you pick the one that’s souled,” Gunag complained, feet moving slowly so that he turned in place, watching, waiting.

“It’s not my fault it has short distance teleportation,” Seth replied. “I mean, how was I to know it could be souled.”

Gunag raised sarcastic brows at him. “I don’t know, maybe because we’ve been getting a number of soul beasts for the past three days.”

“Good point.” Seth nodded, then holstered his gun at his hip and held the hilt of his longsword.

“Isn’t that uncomfortable?” Gunag asked still watching their surroundings.

Seth shrugged. “I’m used to it.”

Holstering a hand gun at his waist while wearing two longswords on both sides had been uncomfortable in early on but it hadn’t taken him long to grow accustomed to it. In the beginning he often made the mistake of reaching for his sword instead of the gun and it had caused a few issues, but nothing life threatening. Then he’d relinquished the task to his minds, delegated it evenly so that two minds controlled each arm so that mistakes would be diminished. Now, he controlled everything himself while his minds played assist and look out.

“You think you’ll be able to get it with that?” Gunag asked recognizing his stance.

Contrary to the fact that they answered to the name shroud wraiths, the beasts didn’t truly bear the characteristics of a wraith. They weren’t incorporeal. They only answered the name because of how they looked.

They were humanoid beasts that walked on two thin legs with long hairs that undulated to give them a wraith-like visage. So when they moved, they looked like wraiths. But their true threat was in their massively clawed three fingered hands and their razor sharp teeth hidden in a face drowned beneath all its hair.

“If it steps within an inch of me, I’ll take its head,” Seth answered.

“It’s Silver rank,” Gunag reminded him. “You’ll try to take its head. But don’t worry too much. You just need to slow it down long enough for me to kill it.”

“You just want the fragment.”

Gunag nodded comically. “I just want its fragment.”

Seth laughed.

Gunag was a fun silver mage. At least, he didn’t look down on Iron adventurers. He didn’t look down on Seth.

Then again, in the last week since coming here, Seth had proved himself to the assembly of Silver mages with his marksmanship. Enough to be gifted the manasteel handgun currently holstered at the waist from one of them.

Seth and Gunag lulled into an eerie silence as they waited. And as if politely waiting for their conversation to halt, the wraith burst into existence beside Seth.

Seth stepped in towards it as it appeared, hand tightly holding his sword, and activated his skill.

[Quick Strike]

The longsword sang free of its scabbard and the wraith swayed back, tiny legs pushing away in such measured and genteel manner that it seemed to glide over the ground, so that only the tip of the sword nicked it.

The sword cut through a layer of its hair and drew a thin line of blue blood across a malnourished torso. The wound was too shallow, not enough to cause any real damage. Gunag had been right, Seth wasn’t enough to take it. But he was enough to slow it.

Beside him, Gunag brought down his halberd on the creature in a powerful swing.

[Duma]

He barked the skill, and his voice was a roar. The air around them trembled as the halberd split it. Glowing a trepid yellow, it came down on the wraith, dug into its skull and came to stop at its neck.

The beast dropped to its knees under the weight of the halberd and its hair fell lifeless where they’d once swayed in a nonexistent wind.

Gunag shortened its hold on his weapon so that he could be closer to the beast and shoved it away with a foot. It parted from his weapon and fell backwards.

It hit the ground with a silent thud.

…………………………………………….

Seth’s minds kept an eye out as he stood beside Gunag.

The silver mage was bent over the corpse of the wraith, a particularly large knife in hand. He sawed at its chest cavity, a wet squelch filling the air with each motion then dipped his hand inside. They were alone in this part of the nest, wandered far from the rest of the party.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Seth knew the reason he was here. But Gunag had only followed because he was playing—under the command of the leader of this soiree—guard to their famous sniper. That Seth had left the group and stopped providing ranged support was something he might have to answer for when he returned. But he had his goal.

New Quest: [Beast Glade]

There exists out in the calmness of a nest, a crack in the world. It is the world broken, unable to heal. From it spawns greater wounds and greater rewards. Find this crack and heal it before time runs out.

Time Remaining: 22:04:02:79.

Objectives: 2/8.

[Find a Clue to the Glades] 1/1.

[Find the Glades] 1/1.

[Play a part in Clearing the Glades] 1/2.

[Exterminate Soul Beasts] 2/4.

[Fissures Closed] 0/2

Reward: Possible Skill.

Consequence: Possible Death.

The number of fissures had increased a few days ago and no one around seemed to have noticed or even cared. He couldn’t blame them for it but wondered if anyone was even paying any attention beyond all the blood and carnage.

Every day they would raid the nest, kill monsters, and call it quits at nightfall. The next day they would return. Whether the nest was cleared the previous day or not was none of their concern but they cleared it often. And each time they did, they came back to the sight of a new species of reia beasts.

In a week they’d seen three. The club tailed shrike. Some kind of gold-backed monkeys that displayed extreme agility and were hard to kill. Today it was the shroud wraiths. They’d been fighting this one for three days now.

They were harder to kill and unnecessarily strong, even for silver rank beasts. Worse, they weren’t the only one of their kind. It seemed some of them were variations none of the adventurers had seen before. There were wraiths with two heads or a tail or an iron shield attached to their backs so that attacks from behind were ineffective.

“Why do you even need a soul fragment?” Seth asked Gunag.

Gunag looked up at him smiling as he always was. In one hand he held his butcher’s knife. His other hand was lost somewhere in the beast’s tiny chest cavity, slithering around in search of its fragment.

“I’ve got a girl, you see,” he said. “And she’s got this younger brother who is of age.”

“So what? You’re trying to make him a mage like his sister?”

Gunag shook his head. “My girl’s no mage.”

“Then why aren’t you getting it for her?”

“Cause I don’t want her to be a mage.”

Seth cocked a confused brow.

Gunag rummaged around in the beast a bit more, then his face lit up. “There it is,” he said, pulling out a pink soul fragment. He wiped it off on the wraith’s hairy body then slipped it into one of the chinks in his armor.

He picked his halberd from the floor and got to his feet, then he turned to Seth. “I don’t want my girl becoming a soul mage. Her brother, however, is a different case. That way, he can be there to protect her when I’m not.”

“Why not just make her a mage so she can protect herself?”

Gunag shook his head as if trying to explain complex math to a melon and realizing it just couldn’t get it. “Women aren’t as strong as men. The same thing goes for female mages: they’re not as strong as male mages.”

“But their stronger than normal men. Why not make her stronger than normal men? At least, that way it reduces the number of things she needs protection from. And the power difference between male souled and female souled isn’t that much. She’ll be stronger than men below her authority. And there’re some women with skills that make them just as strong or stronger than men of their own authority.”

Gunag paused. Waited for him to finish. When he was done, the man clapped him on the shoulder. “You got a girl, Oden?”

Seth shook his head.

“Really?” Gunag askedn surprised. “What of that Asian beauty you’re always coming in with?”

“Just a teammate.”

Gunag scratched his clean shaved jaw. “The way she’s always doting on you and eyeing everyone, anyone would think you and her were a thing. Anyway, what I’m talking about is something you’ll understand when you’re older. It’s an older guy thing.”

Seth let the conversation lie and they advanced through the nest.

They climbed back up to the corridor they’d jumped from and followed it until they were in a different section of the building. Here there was little sign of decaying decorations. There were signs this place had once held such things, though. Places that seemed to serve as platforms for things to be placed were empty and lonely. There were sections of the wall that were empty where other such places in other parts of the building held paintings or ornaments.

Seth guessed the building had somehow been looted at some point during the first crack. His father had often mentioned how humanity had devolved to madness within the first few hours of the first crack. Apparently, some people had looted stores and stolen priceless things in the hopes of making money from them when the world returned to order.

Seth wondered what had become of those people and the things they’d stolen as he opened a door to an empty room. He closed it behind him and moved on to the next and it the same. He found every room he opened empty and proceeded deeper into the nest.

Behind him, Gunag strolled casually, head turning in survey of their environment.

“You know, for a mage as aware of your surroundings as you are during combat, you’re quite defenseless outside of battle.”

Seth nodded half-heartedly to Gunag’s words.

He was certain the man was paying attention to everything and was likely talking about the three different doors he’d opened with large snakes hidden behind a mattress or a desk or some insignificant thing inside. He recalled a snake hidden behind a busted television that had considered coming out to attack them. It had changed its mind as he closed the door, tired from something he could not understand.

Each one had been normal species indigenous to the world with no power over reia and he’s minds had picked them out before he’d even opened the doors.

They were in another section of the building, trudging on, when Gunag stopped Seth with a hand on his shoulder.

They had gone up two staircases, passed two ballrooms, gone down another set of stairs, then gone through a room with an exit door on its left. Now they were now walking down what seemed like it led to some kind of basement.

Gunag’s hand told Seth what he already knew.

“That’s a forbidden zone,” Gunag said. “Didn’t your team get the map?”

Seth knew what it was. He also knew what he was looking for was likely down there. They’d passed a few forbidden zones already and he’d ignored them because they were not what he required. It wasn’t that forbidden zones were necessarily deadly. Chances were they had beasts hidden in them, remnants of beasts that had made their way here but had never left. But the true reason they were forbidden zones were because the teams had not yet mapped out these parts of the nest.

But this was where Seth needed to go if he was going to clear his quest in the time left. To his senses, this place almost didn’t exist. If his senses were eyes, the path before him would be like looking into a mist. Nothing was clear.

“They got the map,” he answered.

“Then you’ll know that you shouldn’t go down there.”

Seth knew that well enough. Long ago he’d learned the distortion in the view of the world he experienced at times like this was a sign of reia. In Barons it was the effect of their reia seeping out of them and into the world. When the cores he cracked did it, it was the reia trapped within them seeping out into the world. Simply put, the stronger the reia, the stronger the distortion. And whatever was down these stairs was powerful. Whatever it was, it was what he was looking for.

Seth’s feet position itself so that one pointed towards the lower stairs and the other pointed back up. It was an awkward stance to anyone, even himself, and that made it confusing. Gunag’s expression grew confused and he knew the man was watching for his next move, untrusting of whatever would happen next.

He was a nice adventurer, so it pained Seth to do this.

[Quick Step]

Gunag’s eyes widened as the skill left his lips and he tightened his hold on Seth’s shoulder. But Seth had expected it, so he dipped his shoulder from his hold as the skill activated and was gone.

When the skill ended, he was partway down the stairs and away from sight.

His feet came to a stop on one of the steps, halting him at the edge of it so that he lost his balance. With momentum still pulling him forward, he didn’t come to an immediate halt. Without proper balance he tripped and fell down the remaining length of the stairs, stumbling a few more before tumbling down.

His back hit the edge of a step, then his side, then his head, then his leg. In the same manner he went down the rest of the stairs, bruising and hurting in his descent. A lesser man than an Iron mage would not have survived.

He ended, sprawled at the bottom of the stairs, lying horrendously on the cold hard floor. He would’ve gotten up immediately if he thought he was in danger, but his senses picked no threat and his body needed to heal.

So he laid down and allowed his reia work on healing him. As he rested, reia moved through his channels spreading to so many parts of him that he might as well have been cycling it.

He laid there for what seemed like hours but knew was only minutes. His minds complained in suppressed groans and tired mumbles, using words thought too low for him to pick up. They were children punished by their parents, complaining too low for fear of further punishment.

It was less than ten minutes when he finally got up. Gunag’s absence came as no surprise to him. As useful as the Silver mage was, he had never proven himself to be one to take responsibility not given to him. There was a higher chance he’d gone back to the heart of the raid to inform those in charge of his disobedience.

Seth dusted himself off, patted his clothes of dust and checked his weapons. There was a dent in the rifle, a bend to its barrel and one of the lenses of the scope was cracked. It was the worst of the fall. Seeing as there was nothing he could do about it now, he turned to the deeper world he’d ventured into and strolled forward.

“What do you think?” he asked his mind as he walked.

We think this is a horrible idea, one answered.

“I already know that. I’m asking if you think the answer to the quest might also be here.”

Oh, it definitely is. This much distortion can only be the cause of a fissure. The problem is it’s not something we can take on our own.

Seth nodded. “All we have to do is find it. There’s still more than enough time. So once we find it, all we have to do is bring the information to Jim and have him close it.”

And if he doesn’t help with that?

“Then we take it to the guild master.”

And if he does nothing?

“Then we take it to the hunter association or the Baron or the government. We take it to everybody.”

Wow.

The surprise in the thought was so vast Seth asked, “What?”

When you snitch you really go all out.

Seth stopped in his tracks and pressed a tired thumb and forefinger to his face. He pinched the bridge of his nose, fighting a mental fatigue he hadn’t even known he’d had.

“Consequence: Possible Death,” he said. “I’m not snitching. I’m doing my best to stay alive.”

Sure you are. Keep telling yourself that.

If his minds had a body he’d slap them. Then again, debatably speaking, he’d once succeeded in giving them a mental pat on the head. Perhaps…

Oww!... what kind of fool slaps himself?

“Keep saying shit and you’ll be asking what kind of fool strangles himself. Now shut up and help me find whatever’s creating all this reia.”

Yes, master, a sarcastic thought answered. Then another followed.

We swear, it’s like he’s losing his mind.

We don’t want to be tied to a mad man.

Seth frowned and focused his mind. The result of his focus came almost immediately.

Oww! For fucksake stop kicking!