Zed stared at the lineup of fallen trees with a frown on his face, Festus’ book of runes forgotten in his hand.
“Am I the only one who thinks this looks kinda very intentional?” he asked, worried.
“No,” Kid answered.
Zed wasn’t entirely sure when they’d started calling this part of the forest the path of fallen trees but seeing it now it was quite aptly named. In front of them was a rise of trees stacked on top of each other, countless until they rose at least twenty feet high. Zed took consolation in the fact that the trees hadn’t been broken or actually felled but had been uprooted, pulled out with their roots and dirt still intact.
It was a testament to the strength of whatever monster had uprooted them, but it was also a testament to the fact that it hadn’t been able to actually damage the trees. After all, it showed that whatever it was, it had won against a battle of strength with the soil and not the trees.
On both sides of the tree was a deep chasm as if the forest had been sundered and the earth shifted. The depth was far beneath but if anyone squinted well enough, they would be able to see it. Suffice to say, it was deep enough that Zed doubted a normal person would survive such a fall.
Something about it, however, felt familiar and it took him a moment to realize what it was.
“That wasn’t there before,” he muttered.
He’d stopped by this chasm when he’d woken up and remembered taking a turn… he looked to his right.
Yup, I went that way.
The pile of trees stood in front of them, making a path across the chasm. According to Ven on the other side of it was a group of monsters, most of them Beta ranked.
It begged the question of who would go first.
“Daniel, you’ll go first,” Ven said, addressing the unasked question. “Then another Rukh will follow you, then the Betas. Once they are across, have them begin clearing the monsters. If they need help step in.”
“Yes, sir,” the massive Olympian answered.
“I will go last.”
Shanine turned a worried look to Zed and Zed looked at Abed. The anger that had colored the corpulent man’s face for most of the journey lessened now and that was all the prompting Zed needed.
“Uhm, if I may,” he said. “How about Shanine goes—”
“The human stays with me,” Ven cut him off. “She will stand under my protection and will not be approached and disturbed by anyone she does not wish to approach or disturb her. Is that okay with you?”
Zed looked at Shanine and she nodded quietly. It was difficult to remind himself that today was her eighteenth birthday with all the cowering she was doing. Then again, he couldn’t really blame her. If he was a powerless frail thing, hungry and in the midst of so many powerful people while a fat man with a giant butcher’s sword kept leering at him, he’d cower in fright too.
“You good with the big armored man?” Zed asked her.
She nodded softly.
That was good enough for him, then. Zed turned to Ven. “We’re fine with that.”
He didn’t miss the anger return to Abed’s face in all its fury.
“Also,” Zed added. “What day is it? I’m really hoping it’s Friday because everyone knows Friday’s an amazing day of the week.”
“Also an amazing day to die,” Abed snarled.
Zed ignored him, his head still turned up to look at Ven.
“It’s Wednesday,” Ven answered, pronouncing every syllable of the word so that it came out the way it was spelled and not the way it was supposed to be pronounce.
“That’s kind of unfortunate,” he noted, then turned to Shanine. “I guess no TGI Friday for you. Still… Happy birthday. Eighteen’s a beautiful age.”
“Wait, what?!” Madam Shaggy snapped, confused. “She’s eighteen?”
Shanine moved closer to Ven.
“You know,” Zed said to Madam Shaggy with a tone of disappointment. “I’m really ashamed of the both of you. You were her employer for a period of time and you’re telling me you have no idea how old she is? And you,” he turned to a stunned Abed. “You’ve been chasing after her hand and didn’t know her age? Shame on you.”
“When I met her a year ago she said she was fifteen,” Madam Shaggy said, annoyed.
Zed wasn’t sure if her annoyance was at the girl’s age or at simply being lied to.
“And you still made her work?” Ash hissed.
Madam Shaggy shrugged, nonchalant. “She had to make money somehow.”
Apart from Ronda, the Olympians didn’t seem to care for the conversation. Daniel was already climbing up the mountain of trees, his massive bulk threatening to push it forward. Despite that, he got to the top without any incident.
Daniel stood on top of the hill of trees, studying whatever was on the otherside. After a moment of that, he jumped began his journey down the other side, disappearing from their view.
“Noted,” Ven said to no one, then he turned to Chris. “We’ve spotted eight Beta rank monsters on the other side which is an acceptable number well within our estimations so the plan still stands. The Beta ranks will be in charge of culling their numbers while we play support. Now, you next.”
Chris said nothing to his words. Whether she accepted them or not was anyone’s guess. But considering the plan was going to help Ash grow stronger, Zed had a feeling she would stand down.
When Chris got to the top and began her descent down the other side of the fallen trees, Ven turned to Zed.
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“No,” Zed said, shaking his head. “Ash goes first, then I’ll go after her.”
Ven paused. He turned his head to Ash and she shrugged.
“Fine by me,” she said, then approached the trees.
The grass and plants and furs growing along the length of the trees served as sufficient hand holds and she scaled the height easily.
“What I wanted to say,” Ven said to Zed, “was that I promise to protect the girl. You should focus only on the monsters on the other side of those trees. My teammate’s report says most of them are category three monsters and I can tell you are a category two even if your aura feels heavier than most of your peers. A mistake could get you killed, so throw away any worry you have for the girl and know that she is in good hands.”
“You know, you guys aren’t so bad,” Zed said. “There’s all sorts of speculation about you people but it’s good to know that you care, buddy.” He patted the forearm of the Olympian armor. “Either that or you’re just saying that because I’m a red head and you’re actually concealing sinister intentions for me.”
Ven sighed audibly. “Understand that this is not niceness. This is necessity. I intend to take you back to VHF headquarters where you will be vetted properly. I am privy to the process of vetting redheads and I assure you it is nothing sinister. You will sit before one of our commanders and look him in the eye while he asks you questions. Once you’ve given your answers, he will be done with you. The rest is unimportant.”
“I heard I’ll be given the option of joining or not.”
“Would you like to join the VHF?”
Zed shrugged. “Honestly, I have no idea. Do I get a suit of armor like you guys?”
“If you meet the criteria, you will be added to a squad and given an armor of your own.”
“You’re driving a hard bargain, tin can,” Zed said. “We’ll see about that once we’re done.” He turned to leave, paused, then looked back at Ven. “If there are a lot of redheads around, why do you care if I make it? You can just move on to the next red head you find. What makes me so special? What makes you so certain I might be the one?”
Ven’s head cocked slightly to the side and Zed could just picture him looking at him as if he’d said something stupid. Which, in hindsight, wasn’t so far-fetched.
“I don’t think you’re the one, Samuel,” Ven said. “You have the same chance of being the one as everybody else. But I intend to bring every redhead I find before him, you included, so that one day he will find the person he’s looking for and this constant order to find redheads can come to an end. I joined the VHF for the sake of hunting monsters and keeping the world safe. Looking for redheads is unnecessary and beneath a soldier dedicated to that cause.”
Zed nodded and made his way to the fallen trees.
“One last thing,” he said as his hand found purchase on the lowest tree.
“What’s that?”
“Who the heck is Samuel?”
“You said your name was Samuel.”
“Oh,” Zed muttered sheepishly. “My name’s definitely Samuel, I was just confused because of how you pronounced it. It sounded as if you said Samael. It’s fine though. See you on the other side.”
With that he turned and started climbing.
Ven watched Zed get to the top, and only when he fell out of sight in his descent did he turn to Shanine. The fragile girl stood beside him so that he was in between her and Abed.
“His name isn’t Samuel, is it?”
“It was yesterday,” Shanine answered. “But I have no idea what he’s going by today, if that helps.”
……………………………………………….
Zed landed on the other side of the wall of trees and was unsurprised to find the forest pretty much the same on the side of it.
Daniel stood on one side of the trees with his gun aimed ahead while Chris had her bone white massive club held out beside her so that its end rested against the ground.
Between them Ash was a ready combatant and in front of them he counted ten auras of Beta rank.
“I thought he said there were eight of them,” he grumbled, stepping forward to stand beside Ash.
“You ready for this?” Ash asked him. “I still haven’t seen what you’re really capable of doing now that you’re a category two.”
Zed chuckled as he took off his shirt.
“Is there are reason you’re stripping?” Daniel asked from where he stood.
“Just let him be,” Chris answered him. “Bloodbath doesn’t really know how to fight so it’s better if he takes he’s shirt off.”
Daniel made a barely audible sound in acceptance.
Zed bunched his shirt up in his hand and tossed it behind him. Chris made no move for it but Daniel caught it before it hit the ground.
Beside Zed, Ash asked, “So how do you want to do it?”
“Not entirely sure,” Zed answered. “But I would feel really safe if someone had an axe they could lend me.”
“A tomahawk,” Ash corrected.
“No, I mean an axe. I’m really not picky at this point.”
“Alright, then. But I guess you’ll have to make do with none. How about I take point and you play support with that force rune of yours.”
“Sounds good,” Zed agreed. “But I want to try something first.”
“What’s that?”
“Nothing fancy,” he answered, stepping forward. “Just something I picked up a while back.”
The monsters watched Zed and Ash with barely concealed ferocity, like starved things in the presence of a meal, yet caution danced in their eyes as they watched the others.
Zed didn’t really mind. In fact, he was more than happy for the time their caution bought him. With it, he conjured the runes of his choice in his mind and held them in place. His right index finger carved one of them into the air with the deft accuracy of an adept, while Zed took his time carving out the second one with his left. The process wasn’t necessarily slow but it was something he wouldn’t be able to do as easily if he was caught up in combat.
Ready, he turned to Ash. “Is there a reason they aren’t attacking?”
“Yea, just one moment,” she answered before addressing Chris and Daniel. “You guys can stand down now.”
The moment Daniel turned down his gun and Chris placed her club in front of her, leaning on it as if it was a staff, the monsters let loose. It seemed the monsters had been cautious of the Rukh rank mages. Zed wasn't sure how to feel about that. Daniel and Chris hadn't even been using their auras to intimidate the creatures. At least not in any way he was aware of.
The creatures charged forward, rabid and uncontrolled.
Zed brought his hands together in front of him, slipping a linking sigil through both runes, and activated them.
He felt the new rune take a bite out of his core and filed the information away. It was one of the things he wanted to know. Just how much mana his most powerful rune cost. The answer was, a lot.
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* You have cast sigil [Link] on rune [Force] and [Fire].
* Sigil [Link] has applied effect [Combine] on [Force] and [Fire].
* You have cast compound rune [Fire Force].
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A stream of fire burst out of the new rune, shooting out into an explosion of flame that crashed forward like a wave of fire, bathing everything in its path like a raging flood.
Roars and whimpers bellowed from the raging fire and Ash stared at the bright flames as even trees caught fire.
When the rune was expended, dwindling away into nothingness, the wave of fire remained burning away at its victims.
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* [Fire Force] has applied effect [Fire flood] [Mana beast] X10.
* [Fire flood] has afflicted [Mana beast] X10 with status effect [Burn]
* Status effect [Burn] stacks on [Mana beast] X2.
* Status effect [Burn] is now [Burn (Third degree)].
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Ash turned to Zed, stunned.
“I thought you said it wasn’t anything fancy.”
“It wasn’t,” Zed said, equally surprised. The devastation was far more than he expected. “I guess it’s stronger now that I’m a category two.”
As though confirming his suspicions of its strength, a notification popped up.
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* You have defeated [Venomous tiger (Beta, category 3)].
* You have gained +31 [Exp].
* You have defeated [Rabid mutt (Beta, category 3)].
* You have gained +20 [Exp].
* Defeat Beta rank [Mana beast] 3/9.
* Exp to category 3: 2632/3400.
----------------------------------------
Zed read the notification with a frown.
“Venomous tiger,” he read. “As if regular tigers weren’t bad enough, mana went and gave them venoms, too? That’s just wrong.”
“Eyes on the prize, Red!” Ash announced, deep blue mana gathering to her hands as she charged forward and into the remaining monsters. “There’s still more to go.”