Ira would randomly appear in the air with an audible shock and then disappear again only to be seen dozens of miles away. His main goal was to gain an understanding of distance since it would theoretically allow him to teleport anywhere as long as he understood where he was. After a few minutes, he dropped into a wooded area and landed softly. His spatial leaps weren’t as energy consuming as his short-range teleportation, but that didn’t mean he could perform for an infinite amount of time. Ira shook his head and started his journey again.
With a few more leaps, he landed at the site of a quarry that was heavily guarded and surrounded by tents.
Seeing a man drop from the sky sent waves of alarm throughout the entire area.
“Halt!” A few guards rushed up to Ira and surrounded, while the mercenaries in the area moved to do the same.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Ira flicked his hand and produced his Mercenaries Union card before handing it over.
“Ira? It’s really you?” A guard asked, “The Site Operator would be happy to see you.”
As if one cue the Site Operator pushed his way through the guards and sized up Ira, “Who’s that?”
A guard made a strange expression before whispering, “That’s Ira.”
“Hmm...Oh! Are you here to help us?” It was strange to see a rugged man in his fifties smile politely and speak with a subservient tone.
Ira didn’t seem to be bothered by it and responded, “Well, I was looking for someone, but I guess I can help.”
“That’s great! It’s just the matter of payment…” The Site Operator spoke, hoping Ira would at least show some type of pity on their funds.
“Don’t worry about it,” Ira smiled.
“R-Really?” The Site Operator couldn’t believe his ears. He would be even more disbelieving if he heard of Ira’s accomplishments at the Summit, but the news had yet to spread to anyone on the outer edges of the Kingdom. Though that didn’t mean it was rapidly spreading around the entire country.
“Yup,” Ira tapped the man on the shoulder before stepping past him.
The Mercenaries in the campsite exchanged hushed whispers and Ira’s presence became known to everyone outside the quarry. There was a bit of a crowd gathered around him with the hopes of seeing his appearance in person. It had to be said he looked like the handsome son of some noble house, but his simple clothes and messy hair helped to blur that assumption. Still, there was a sort of wild yet friendly charm about him that made him seem approachable.
Before anyone got the chance, he quickly moved toward the quarry and disappeared into its dark tunnels.
Ira walked for a while before he made sure no one was around and removed his clothes before using his hunter form. He planned on surprising Harper, Amy, and Aldis but his yellow eyes were a dead give away.
Ira retrieved his sword from thin air before looking at his reflection and using his self-adaptation to alter the color of his eyes to a dim orange. If he lost concentration they would revert back, but he didn’t plan on keeping them up for long.
Ira gave a garbled laugh and activated his camouflage before he caught onto Harper’s scent and moved forward.
…
Harper tapped her foot impatiently as she looked at the group standing in front of her. “Stop following us,” She barked grumpily.
“We’re not really following you…” Randolph said sheepishly as he scratched his head.
“There’s only so many places you can go when you’re down this far,” Lance added.
“I didn’t ask you!” Harper squeezed her baton.
“Calm down, Harper,” Aldis said as he eyed Clark who avoided his and Amy’s eyes.
“I am–” Harper spun on her heels and eyed a tunnel with an unshakeable focus.
Aldis and Amy prepared their weapons as they knew that Harper was always the first to detect when something was wrong.
“Something’s coming,” Harper said quietly.
The cavern rumbled heavily and caused the group to move closer to each other in preparation. They were shocked by what they saw next, a massive crowd of monsters scrambled toward them desperately. There was a large creature with the distorted face of an old man, a lion’s body, and a scorpions tale leading the charge.
“Move!” Harper jumped away, followed by everyone else, but the moment of confrontation never came.
The monster continued to run past as if they didn’t seem the group of humans at all. A Cerberus hound that looked completely menacing tripped on itself and fell only to be stomped to death by the crowd.
As the wave passed, everyone found themselves looking at each other with bewilderment.
“Um…What was that?” Amy was the first to speak.
Harper was about to speak when a feeling of danger swept over her skin like a swarm of ants. Even though the monsters were all but gone, there was a set of violent footsteps assaulting her ears moving toward them.
“There’s something else!” Harper shouted. As soon as she finished the footsteps were close enough for everyone else to hear.
“Another monster?” Aldis raised his guard.
“I don’t know…” Harper responded as she summoned her Phantom and placed it in front of the cavern before setting an illusion over the entire group.
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A heavy set of footsteps arrived outside the cavern as indicated by the ground literally breaking under them. Suddenly everything went quiet, except for the nervous breathing of the group.
“Hold on, I’ll look for it,” Harper whispered, but before she had a chance to activate her Spectral Vision, her phantom was knocked away and flew into the cave walls at an impossible speed causing a small shock to echo in the cavern.
A humanoid creature with dim orange eyes and black fur that covered it from head to toe, slowly appeared in sight as its camouflage came undone. It slowly examined the room as it breathed in deeply as if attempting to taste the air. The metallic teeth on the outside of face painted a grim appearance. Harper widened her eyes as the fear of death made itself known, she held her breath and tried to minimize her presence instinctively.
“What the hell is that?” Randolph whispered and as soon as the words left his mouth the creature turned its gaze to the corner they were huddled in.
Harper didn’t have time to yell at Randolph so she undid her illusion and screamed, “Run!”
No one had time to react when the humanoid moved forward and smashed the rocks above the entrance to the exit tunnels. Although the rocks could be cleared by someone they couldn't do it until they got rid of the creature which meant they were trapped.
“Shit!” Harper cursed as she grabbed her bone scythe.
“What do we do?” Randolph asked Harper as he raised his sword.
“We fight it, you fucking idiot!” Harper yelled. She was the only one who had an accurate assessment of the situation. If they didn’t kill it they would die and the odds of killing it were essentially non-existent.
Harper attempted to wrap the scythe around the creature, but it grabbed it and yanked her forward. She reacted quickly and summoned a phantom to catch her, but the speed at which she was pulled meant a fatal collision would occur. The Phantom reached out to catch her before spinning and throwing her back, she successfully redirected the force and landed back near the group.
The creature evaluated the bone scythe before dropping it onto the ground. The brief exchange that didn’t even last ten seconds let everyone know how great of a danger they were in.
Harper, Aldis, Amy, Randolph, and Lance charged forward. Sarah fired arrows repeatedly while Valerie chanted her strongest spell. Clark...prepared to summon a shield to protect whoever needed it first.
Harper swung her staff with all of her power, but the creature easily dodged before grabbing the end of it and lifting her into the air. Aldis brandished his swords but they were caught between the creature's fingers. Amy thrust her spear toward its eyes, but it was caught between the creature's teeth. Lance tried to stab its belly but tripped and pressed down by the creatures heavy foot. The arrows fired by Sarah managed to hit and literally did nothing. Randolph squeezed his sword tightly and veins appeared all over his arms. He stabbed his sword at the creature's chest. The sword went through the fur and hit something.
“Yeah!” Randolph shouted as he pulled back his sword for another strike. The fur around the area he hit fell to the ground and revealed black scales that were lightly scratched.
“What the…” Randolph nearly dropped his sword in shock as he looked the creature in its eyes. It was at that moment he noticed that its teeth were in the shape of a cruel smile.
The creature finally moved, it dropped Harper’s staff with her still holding on to it and snatched Randolph off his feet. While it released its foot from Lance’s chest and kicked him toward Sarah and Valerie who rolled away. They had a sense of familiarity but had no time to recall where it came from. If they thought about more they would’ve realized Ira did the same thing during the sparring session they had with him months ago.
Aldis’ swords were ripped from his grip and tossed away, leaving him defenseless. Amy abandoned her spear and raised her metal arm before letting loose a torrent of green flame which covered the creature’s entire body. Randolph was dropped onto the ground and he quickly moved away, leaving Amy who exerted as much power as she could from the demon’s flame.
Harper summoned dozens of spectral weapons and fired them at the creature and Valerie followed along and fired dozens of explosive spells at it. They retreated and stepped away while waiting for the smoke to clear.
When it did, the creature was revealed and completely unharmed as far as they could tell.
“Why don’t you fucking die?!” Harper shouted.
Clark raised the five golden shields around the creature and trapped it in a cube-like construct. He breathed heavily and attempted to hold it but his expression changed to one of horror as the creature raised its claws and tore through the shield with no problem at all before stomping forward.
Aldis was grabbed and thrown into a wall and Amy came flying right after him. Harper covered her hands in spectral gauntlets and began to unleash a flurry of blows on the creature. It raised its hand and punched her in the abdomen, sending her sailing away. Randolph shouted as he charged forward, he wrapped his arms around the creature and attempted to lift it, but it heavier than it looked and he was surprised when he couldn’t get it to raise its foot. In response to his efforts, it interlocked its hands and brought them down on his back with incredible force, causing him to drop to the ground like a dead fish.
The creature moved toward the Sarah, Valerie, and Clark next. Before they could move, it arrived and subdued them with a few punches that didn’t hurt them as much as they expected.
“Hey!” Randolph crawled to his feet.
“If you want to hurt them, you’ll have to–” Randolph wasn’t able to finish because a fist slammed into his stomach causing him to kneel before he was grabbed by the throat and lifted into the air. The creature tilted its head in a confused manner almost if it was trying to recall something. Of course, that gesture was Ira wondering who Randolph was. Out of everyone present, he was the only unfamiliar face and his strength was beyond what was normal for humans.
Randolph attempted to pry away the creature’s hand but it remained unflinching, no matter how much force he used the hand wouldn’t budge. His consciousness began fading and his mind raced but he couldn’t produce a solution.
‘I can’t die like this!’ Randolph thought before his vision darkened. Suddenly a rush of energy hit him and a golden light was emitted from his body. Randolph felt divine power running through his body, threatening to explode. He gripped the creatures hand and began to pull himself away.
“Hmm?” A garbled voice was emitted from the creature’s mouth but it didn’t seem to be panicking. Ira was thinking that Randolph would end up decapitating himself if he continued to struggle so much since his claws were out.
Randolph could see that he was on the verge of slipping out of its grasp, but it let him go and when it did he raised his fist and drove it into the creature’s chest with a loud boom, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Randolph opened his eyes expectantly only to see that the creature was only pushed back by only half of a foot.
“W...Why?” Randolph looked as if his soul left him. His attack literally did nothing, even though he felt so powerful just a few moments ago.
It had to be said that the reason he felt as if his body was going to erupt due to the massive amount of power inside of him was that he reached its current limits. Unfortunately, the amount of strength needed to knock Ira away was more than anyone on the continent currently had.
The creature raised its hand up to his chest slowly and pushed him, sending him flying backward into a wall.
Everyone held a lifeless look in their eye as they awaited their deaths, but it never came. From within the smoke, the creature waved its hands and produced a set of clothes before quickly putting them on and stepping out. It moved toward Harper and placed its hands under her arms before lifting her into the air.
Still being stunned, Harper opened her eyes and thought it was about to eat her, she opened her mouth slightly and whispered, “...Ira.”
“Yes?” A cheerful voice responded.
Harper blinked a few times before her vision cleared and she watched the fur disappear from the creature a reveal a familiar face.
“Ira?!” Harper shouted gleefully with an expression that threatened to burst from too much joy. She laughed happily as she grabbed onto Ira and hugged him tightly as if he was going to disappear again.
“You’ve gotten stronger, Harper...and bigger,” Ira returned her hug with a bright laugh of his own.