Chapter 20: The Millalith
“Erin, be careful where you ignite your fire. Lead them back toward the opening and make sure nothing goes into the forest area” Asato reminded the older who had a sinister grin on his face. The worst thing about Erin being like this was his inability to actually reply back.
While the support was much appreciated, the lack of communication ability was not something that Asato liked to face often enough. It got distracting pretty fast.
And it also made him reliant on Erin actually following through with his instructions since there was no verbal response.
Asato trusted Erin, but not to mess up this balance if he felt like it. His senses in this state were topsy turvy, even for himself. Erin had told him that he never remembered anything that happened when he was like this.
So this was pretty much a gamble with incredibly high chances of success.
Once the two took their positions and made sure then Ten was out of the radius, it was time to execute the plan.
The plan was simple enough. They would use flair fire to lead the creatures toward the hole. These creatures had really poor eyesight and usually relied more on the sensational aspect of their body to guide themselves.
Hence, it would be incredibly easy to lead them in a specific direction.
The problem lied in their number. There were too many of these things to take care of in a normal way and it would be way too easy to lead them astray.
The worst would be if these creatures escaped into the forest area. Since the natural vegetation in the area lacked big predators, it was not ready for something of this scale at all.
In essence, they needed to be careful.
Asato signalled Erin to begin. The fire that started was mild with hardly any warmth. The perfect temperature to not be felt by these creatures.
It ignited a sense of comfort in Asato, the warmth just right too deep into his core and warm it from inside.
The power was so Erin in nature that nothing could replace it in his mind.
And then the second point lit up and then a third till a bridge of light formed all over the place. Since it was a huge area of effect, Asato did his best to map it out in his mind.
He had marked the area out inside his head earlier on when they had planned the whole operation so virtually he knew the location of every flag Erin lit up.
What Asato now had to do was to manually connect it all into a one-way network for these creatures to follow upon. The light pillars extended downward into the earth quite a while, so they were extremely useful in that regard.
And their height outside the earth was also not something to laugh upon. It towered far above the creatures and if Asato did it right, it would tower above even a four-story building and would be stronger than steel.
The difficult part was to navigate through the crystals without causing unnecessary extra moments to alert these creatures, however, Asato was trained for these circumstances.
Erin's demon blood made him a natural predator in such situations as he tiptoed around the area, perhaps even quieter than Erin in this case.
Yet despite all the precautions taken, it took them a better part of three hours to run the whole place through and an extra hour just to ensure that everything was alright.
They had ran into Ten twice in that time, both times he was perfectly hidden which made their work so much easier.
Once the preparation was done then came the difficult part. At this point, Erin must be getting out of power had never used the demon side so much before. Asato mentally took in the tool it must be taking on him and winched.
Yeah, he would really recommend him for promotion when he went back, bias accusations be damned.
"A-are you done?" Ten asked, his voice a nervous wreck which would not be a problem otherwise but got on Asato's nerves. He was not ready to console a nervous person right now when his own plan was such a mess.
"You did good hiding. Now go hide for a few more hours as we lead these creatures back inside". Asato replied, his voice as calm as he could make.
Ten's frown was ignored as the pair turned their back toward him. Ten just grumbled as he hid in the surroundings.
"Erin, if you would please" Asato made the go-ahead gesture as he began running. Asato was to act as the bait while Erin would Shepherd these creatures inside the cave.
The plan was basic and yet most effective than anything flashier. The first fire happened immediately as Asato reached his position. The ones furthest from his shook as they exited the ground.
Asato held his ground as the earth near his feet shook with a vengeance. The pillars that were connected with his power lit up to form transparent walls made of yellow light, a cage almost which housed those creatures.
They banged their bodies against the wall but nothing happened. It neither shook nor did it break at all. There was no crack in the overall structure which filled Asato with pride. They had succeeded in their phase one. Now to proceed further, he allowed a little magic to gather inside his hand.
It was enough to create a little firework, nothing harmful but well enough to gather the attention of the nearest creature.
He could see the ones from further down make their way toward himself which he counted in his successful steps. He threw the fireball toward those creatures and it exploded with a flash of light.
The bang was less audible over the sound of those stones grinding over each other, the creatures no doubt agitated beyond belief.
It gave Asato enough of a head start to start running toward the entrance of the cave, the distance between him and the creatures not lessening as he dodged their projectile.
He twisted his body as he made a back leap, his scythe making quick work of the boulder projectiles being thrown his way. They were a bother but his scythe and lithe frame gave him enough mobility to stay out of their way.
He crossed the cave as soon as he reached the threshold, his foot not missing even a single beat.
Once he felt himself deep enough, he allowed himself to use the natural biology of these creatures. As soon as they had entered inside, both their mobility as well as sight had dimmed. Making usage of this, he threw quite a few fireballs inside the cave deeper than he was all the while he hid behind the boulder.
He was here to make sure their creatures returned unharmed to maintain the ecological balance and this seemed to work splendidly.
More and more creatures followed the first's lead, their steps getting heavier. Asato allowed everyone to pass before he made his way outside.
He spied Erin out of the corner of his eyes. The older was panting, one of his hands on his knee as he bowed down to catch his breath.
"Are you alright?" Asato asked Erin who seemed as recovered as he could be. He was still a little pale due to all the power usage in the demon form but that would pass quickly.
“I’m alright. What about you? Did they follow through?” Erin’s winded voice still held the concern, his form still towareing even in this condition. Asato just passed him a small grin for his efforts.
“I’m alright. It went through smoother than I thought it would. You were amazing throughout” Asato complimented, his voice holding nothing but the truth. A boasting smile grew on Erin’s face which Asato felt was deserved in these circumstances.
“Yeah, I’m awesome like that. Now, why don’t we find Ten and get out of here before anything else happens? I need to write a report regarding this which I am not looking forward to” Erin whined and Asato just smiled. He knew what Erin wanted but that was not going to happen.
No matter how much he whined, Asato would not help him write his report ever again. It was a headache with all the formalities one needed to follow.
The pair made their way outside the cave, their mind clearly on their victory. But as soon as the entrance was in sight they stopped. Ten stood shaking in the entrance, his back toward the light and he looked far too spooked.
“Ten?” Erin asked, his voice holding the question which Asato wanted to ask but held himself back. Ten looked even more spooked at that voice, almost jumping off the ground before he turned toward the pair.
“G-Goodness. Y-you are here. I-its bad. T-there’s f-fire outside” Ten stuttered which made Asato pause. Forest fires were not a common phenomenon but they were not rare too.
However, just the fact that they had seen no sign of it till now was concerning. For a second Asato’s mind ran through every possibility that could happen but nothing made sense at all. Had they messed up while leading the creatures inside?
Surely now.
“Fire? What kind?” Erin asked, his voice grave. Then it drew on Asato that there was a kind of fire that they had been dealing with that was not natural but surely it would not appear here. It had no reason to.
But it had no reason to appear anywhere else too. The only thing here that was common was Ten, Asato and Erin. and the latter two were never the target of this fire before.
This only left one option.
“Erin, protect Ten here. I’m afraid someone is trying to silence the only surviving evidence of the fire left” Asato made his way toward the cave’s mouth. Since it was a little higher, he could see only the sky.
But as soon as he neared the entrance, he could see it. The smoke was spreading while the fire hid behind it all. It was too widespread for Asato to make anything out and it scared him. What was he going to do now when two out the three here were drained and the third was almost useless?
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone