[Volume 3: Accumulated Fates]
Chapter 38 - CONFRONTATION
~One Year and a Half Later~
AYA GREPHIN
It has been a long time since we've met the human boy, Luke Hodges, who had brought Princess Tessia Eralith back from some slave traders. Yet, the boy not looking like a fighter type intrigued my curiosity to see this boy at his full potential.
Both in mana and physical training, the boy has shown his own downfall and upbringings upon certain tests.
However, he still has room to improve his skills as well as his judgment in chaotic situations. Just two months ago he put himself in danger rather than letting us take over the situation. Normally, we lances–Alea and I–can't be in the Beast Glades for too long. We still are military power to the Kingdom of Elenoir, in which many responsibilities come with it.
After Alea and I had left for our summons, Luke had the idea of going to another dungeon dive alone into an A-rank dungeon.
With only his two swords that the blacksmith gave him and a handful of food, he dove right into it.
Yet, what he didn't expect was an ambush from the demons we've been hunting all this time.
When we came back to our usual spot, he wasn't there. We looked all over for him until we received reports of a boy with long black hair tied back striding into a dungeon alone.
At the entrance of the dungeon lay signatures of mana that weren't Dicathen native. Concerned and cautious Alea ran headfirst without any second thoughts. I let my mist magic cover all over the dungeon's paths without leaving a single corner untouched by mist.
I detected multiple lifeless bodies scattered around the premises along with a magic that was recognizable now that I've been with that person for four years, watching as his mana pool would expand but then reached a limit.
My eyes grew wide at the realization of him being the maker of this nightmare of a one sided battle.
Now, finding the cause of this was going to be our main mission.
I walked towards the entrance, using my magic to enhance my timing to where the second group of "Alacryans" as Luke calls them. His traces of mana are all over the place, like he would be using some sort of teleportation spell. If that were the case, it would be impossible. Teleportation magic isn't something someone can use much less invent.
Something was wrong and to prove that we must find Luke.
As I walked deeper into the dungeon, only a single path was available until now. In front of me were three paths, on the ground–something more noticeable than the dead bodies, some decapitated and some without the lower half of their body, were green glowing vines. It was Alea.
I wonder if the boy is still sane after killing so many people.
"Aya have you found Luke?"
I turned my head to the source of the voice.
Sweat dripped down her face as she tried to ignore it, her eyes shaking, perhaps the concern and worry about the boy must have had her like this. I took back a portion of my mist magic and left the ones that were far from us to be as I conjured mirage clones to search. "No. However, I do think that we might be heading towards the right place, seeing as the sight of corpses doesn't diminish at all."
"Yeah, you are right. Do you think maybe Luke stumbled upon a camp of these "Alacryans" and decided to eliminate them all?" Alea was puzzled by how many corpses were disposed of in the dungeon but her total judgement wasn't wrong. Still, Luke is just a boy who barely knows the same magic as I and struggles to maintain it to a certain limit.
Again, if it were truly Luke who had done this then maybe he might have been hiding his true potential from us.
The elven lance saw my inactivity to answer her question and instead turned to see our surroundings before making a saying, "My vines are not getting any active motions in either of the three entrances. We must go separately and check for Luke."
"This could be a trap." I let my thoughts leak through my mouth instead of keeping it to myself. "There is a chance that these bodies are old bodies, maybe a fight against the mana beasts here and used them to lure Luke in and then us."
There couldn't be another answer, they were angry at us and even that demon that we faced a long time ago in Luke's final exam mentioned something about his "Lord" being overjoyed that Luke was alive.
Alternative and parallel events all played in my mind, those over the years that I've been with the human boy and up until now. Questions of Luke's true intentions of being an adventurer began to linger around my main thoughts.
Why was a human eight-year-old trying to get stronger than he is right now?
That was the one question that floated around my brain the more I got to know the boy.
Suddenly, before I could contemplate the answer to that question, my eyes changed direction of attention. The far right path of the dungeon's vine was glowing strong.
The white haired elf turned to me with a scared and yet hopeful expression. "Let's go!"
Taking the front, I ordered, "Use your sensory skill!"
She obliged to my words and did as told. In the meantime, I was pulling every single molecule of mist magic I had used earlier to my body. There might still be a chance that this might not be Luke and instead that demon we met a year ago.
About five minutes of running, Alea finally gave me the words, "We are close!"
Putting up a mana barrier for myself, I ignited a spear and wind on my right hand and a ball of wind on my left.
"There are strong waves of mana in front of us!"
What—?
As late as a snail, my attention was cut short on my affinity, and pushed to the front of the giant enclosement. Multiple tents were set up along with a cobblestone throne, where one single being sat down.
Alea wasn't wrong, even without her sensory skills, the waves of mana surrounding this place was strong.
In the face of mana that railed against my own, I mumbled, "What is going on?"
"Sir we got intruders!" A yell from afar caught my attention.
Dammit, we were spotted!
Six groups of threes came towards us with hostility. Bearing weapons, only the Strikers stood forwards. Behind them were the Shields, Casters and Sentrys.
The names that Luke gave us a while back, before he left towards Xyrus City.
All people that ran towards us had black and grey armor, covering them from head to toe. Yet, what I found interesting was the fact that these people had horns, almost and if not similar to the one we met years back in the dungeon.
Nevertheless, the one standing behind them was different. He was the one releasing all of this mana into the dungeon. It was hard to breathe but I managed to stay calm. "The orange-haired guy seems to be the leader." I slightly spoke to Alea who had in turn used her plant magic to hold down most of the enemy.
Instantly, I pulled my arm back, wind spear in hand, and unleashed the attack on the Alacryans without a second thought.
The wind spear broke through the sound barrier and pierced the Strikers with ease, leaving the rest of the troops confused but later the veil of terror fell upon us all.
"Luke!" Alea screamed.
Her sudden mention of the boy's name made me feel unsettled. Almost like it wasn't something I wanted to hear in this situation. I traced Alea's line of sight and met with an unfamiliar figure just hundreds of feet away from us.
The white clothes he was wearing all this time as an adventurer had turned crimson red, spots of blood traced from the solace of his shoe to the top where his dark red eyes–that showed no remorse or mercy–resided as he looked down at the whole cave.
No, that was an understatement.
This boy, who Alea and I had been training since he was four, who had made jokes to us when we were on mission to settle down his own nervousness, spared no look at either us or the enemy but one person.
On one of the entrances, Luke Hodges stood there, holding a bodiless head.
One of the Alacryans said out loud to his leader, "Sir, he is the one who has been hunting us! I've seen it with my very own eyes!"
He was one of the survivors that Luke hurriedly let go.
The man had fought Luke one-on-one and lost. Luke destroyed his pride and dignity by cutting one of his horns and his dominant hand with his left hand. No mana was involved during that duel, only strength.
"You must kill him, Sir Drav—!"
Before the man could finish his sentence, his head flew further than the echoes of the ones who were pierced by my attack.
"Don't you dare give me orders, you are just some lowly Sentry who's been given an okay from Scythe Dragoth." The man in a red robe said, unleashing his anger at the horned man by beheading him and later burning him.
The bright red and yellow fire burned the man screaming for help from his so-called leader, who instead watched in disgust and fury. His grey armor was the first to melt into the man's skin and later from the tears that left his eyes until there was no longer a scream coming from the man's mouth. Only the crackling fury of the fire was left as we all watched in dumbfoundment.
After seeing that the burning man wasn't screaming, the man with orange hair just cleaned the spot where the man's hand had touched. Mumbling to himself something that wasn't audible to me but was enough for me to make out. "Filthy trash, like these Dicathens, dares to touch the almighty next Retainer?!"
"What a psychopath." My companion said, taking the words out of my mouth before she ordered her plant magic towards the group right in front of us. "We must take Luke out of here, but we must kill that man before he becomes a bigger threat."
I nodded at Alea's words. He was a man that needed to be killed, if he is not things might get dangerous in the future–
"Don't bother with him. I will babysit him for a little longer, until you two have wiped out every single Alacryan here that is not Draneeve."
Wha–
The boy who was hundreds of feet away from us was suddenly walking from behind us like he was trailing us from behind. His demeanor of speaking changed as well, he wasn't using his kind or relatively normal tone but a colder one. An emotion that didn't express any warmth or anger but rather emotionless.
It had been months since we had seen him and now he had changed.
And what's more, he knew the name of their leader…
Luke's movement around his hands brought worry to me, yet he was only summoning his two swords he had gotten from Dinzel. The mask that Luke had been wearing for almost a year was not on his head. He was revealing his identity to the enemy.
His black hair had been tied into a man bun, letting his red crimson eyes out for them to see and perhaps strike fear to them.
"Luke wait–"
I got cut off, not really knowing what happened to the boy in front of me.
Where?
"Over there!" The white haired elf had pointed to where this Draneeve was sitting.
"H-How?"
He was just in front of us not even a second ago and now he was in front of the enemy leader only using his Ice deviant magic on both of his swords.
I couldn't wrap the thoughts from my mind, asking the question, how did Luke get there? It was like teleportation magic or some sorts of magic that makes him faster than what I can perceive. Wait… This magic surroundings us…
I turned to look at our surroundings with a glimpse of what seemed to be light fog.
He used the Illusion deviant I had taught him during our training in Elenoir.