Aric already killed their other captive as he refused to answer any questions and did the same with the enemy Elijah captured after it became obvious that he didn’t intend to cooperate as well.
The only thing left to do was to explore the rift.
Chapter begin
Before they entered the rift, Kael suggested they wait for fifteen minutes since there could be more enemies inside. While they waited, Elijah asked the pyromancer about his feat from before.
“It’s the [Weightless] skill. It’s pretty common in our guild as it’s a reward from one of our rifts.” Kael explained.
“Maybe we can give you one as payment for all your help,” Aric added and the other two nodded.
Elijah smiled. “That would be great.”
They decided to enter after no one came out of the rift for the next fifteen minutes.
“You’ve never been in a rift?” Erik asked as they approached the portal. Elijah shook his head as he glanced at it. “We have to enter one after another to enter the same instance.”
“What would happen otherwise?” Elijah asked as Aric stopped right in front of the rift.
“You would end up alone inside.” With a grin, he took a last step forward as his form disappeared into the darkness. “Kael jumped in right after him.
“After you.” Erik gestured towards the rift as he smiled at Elijah who hesitated for a few seconds before he closed his eyes and stepped forward. He could feel his minion following right behind him. It felt like walking through water but the feeling only lasted for a moment before it suddenly disappeared, leaving Elijah slightly disoriented.
He opened his eyes, seeing Aric and Kael standing a few feet in front of him. They were scanning their surroundings and glanced at Elijah as he gasped in surprise at the message in front of his eyes.
You’ve entered a rift. Welcome to The Vineyard.
“That’s a message from the Nexus. It always appears when you enter a rift.” Kael explained to Elijah who joined them. He also took in their surroundings while his minion and Erik emerged from the entrance to the rift right after him.
Fitting to its name, the rift was a lush and overgrown forest. The trees were smaller than the trees on the outside. Countless vines were hanging down while thorny bushes grew around them.
“Those berries look delicious,” Aric muttered as he looked at the bushes adorned with berries of all colors. “But we shouldn’t let our guard down.” Elijah noticed that the other three already had their weapons prepared. Aric was ready to shoot a bow at a moment’s notice while Erik and Kael had their fists covered in their respective elements.
“It’s a Tier 2 rift. We shouldn’t underestimate this.” Kael warned before something buzzed past them. They all ducked on reflex and Kael tried to hit whatever was shooting past them with a fireball but missed. It was too fast.
“It was something like a dragonfly. Didn’t seem dangerous.” Aric said. He had the best eyesight and could see the creature clearly while the others only perceived it as a blur.
They have dragonflies here? Elijah thought as they began making their way through the rift. For the first few minutes they encountered no monsters and Elijah lost himself in the wonder he felt at the world that surrounded him. The forest outside the rift at least resembled forests on Earth to a certain extent if the trees’ size and the few luminous trees weren’t considered.
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Here, the differences were countless. The texture of the bark, the size of the trees, and the plants surrounding them. Everything looked strange.
Aric glanced at Elijah. “You’ve never seen trees?” He joked.
“I’ve never seen trees like these either.” Kael shared Elijah’s amazement.
“None of us has.” Aric continued to scan their surroundings. Each time something moved, his eyes followed.
Their first encounter with rift monsters came minutes later when they passed a particular strange tree. It was a red, thin tree that looked out of place even in such an environment. As if it was added afterward. Its branches ended in mushroom-shaped tips and reminded Elijah of the mushrooms of a certain game series.
While they passed the tree Elijah couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was wrong with it. He repeatedly glanced at it but decided to ignore the feeling as he saw no one else reacting to it.
They passed the tree and moved closer to a glade they spotted further ahead. Elijah swiveled around when he realized the cause of his worries. He grabbed Erik and pulled him several feet back as he retreated. They managed to narrowly evade a cloud of spores before Elijah pointed with his mace at the red tree. “That’s not a tree, I can’t sense it with my wooden manipulation!”
As their whole party looked at the tree, more branches loosened themselves and landed on the ground as mushroom-like monsters.
“They can hide their presence when they’re connected to that thing,” Erik shouted before he held his breath and began pummeling the small monsters which began moving towards their groups, carrying their bodies on tiny feet.
The others joined him and they ended the fight quickly before they concentrated their attacks on the red tree, felling it shortly after.
As they continued to explore the rift, they encountered more fungal foes. While the monsters differed in their appearance, they all seemed to be based on various types of mushrooms. Erik and Elijah were even caught in a cloud of spores once which hindered them from moving for a full five seconds mid-fight. Were it not for Kael protecting them, the mushrooms would have overrun them.
The deeper they delved into the rift, the stronger the mushrooms became. Their abilities became more versatile as well. They began with the ability to release clouds of toxic spores from their mouth and gained the ability to spit a corrosive acid at their enemies later on.
This time it was Kael’s turn to be protected by his teammates as the pyromancer got hit by a mushroom. The monster was the first of several others to ambush them from above and opened its attack with a corrosive spit which landed on Kael’s arm. Erik created a thin protective layer of earth above them as they got away from under the mushrooms while Elijah manipulated the trees around the beasts to take care of them. Aric also helped by shooting down a few of them further up ahead.
“Is every rift this exhausting?” Elijah asked between short breaths as his hands rested on his knees. “We’ve been fighting mushrooms all day.”
Aric nodded while his eyes examined the higher branches. “I can’t see any enemies.”
Kael sat down on a nearby stump. “Let us take a break.” A tiny flame danced above his index finger. “I need to restore my mana.” Erik and Aric shared a glance before Erik started to erect an earthen dome around them. Elijah helped him and used wood to reinforce their improvised camp before placing firewood in the center which Kael used to start a small fire before darkness could envelop them.
“I’m completely drained now,” Erik said as he lay down and soiled his clothes with even more earth.
Elijah put his arms around his knees while leaning his back against the wall. He gazed at his minion next to him before he realized that he probably would be able to summon a second one now that he had reached Tier 2. He would have facepalmed himself if he were alone.
“Hey Elijah, what are your plans after we leave the island?” Aric sat opposite Elijah, leaning a few feet away from him against the other side of the dome. Kael and Erik glanced at him as well.
“I don’t know.” Elijah suppressed the sadness he felt when thinking of home. “I want to get stronger, though. And maybe explore the world.”
“We all do.” Erik put his head back down to the ground and closed his eyes. “But everyone has their own shackles holding them down.” He smiled.
“Shackles?” Elijah raised an eyebrow.
“He got engaged last month.” Aric laughed as he put his hand on his chest. “And I’m the son of Lord Rider. Maybe you’ve heard of him.”
“Lord? You’re a noble, then?” Elijah asked before Aric shrugged. “I’m the fourth son. One of my brothers is going to become the next Lord Rider.”
“They are excellent fighters. If I remember correctly they were all above Tier 5.” Kael turned to Aric. “Wasn’t your second brother a member of some Tier 9 guild in the capital?”
“He’s but I forgot the name.”
“What tier is he?” Elijah said as he glanced at Erik who began snoring. Aric snorted as he looked at his friend. “He’s Tier 7. It took him years to reach that level though. He’ll turn 30 this Moonrise.”
They continued to talk for an hour before they decided to continue their delve.