Kapitel 25: Debut

PH1RE'S P.O.V

The early morning mist hung heavy over Nidus as Maya and I made our way to the wall construction site. The damp air carried the scent of wet earth and dew, clinging to the trees that surrounded the town.

In the distance, we could hear the faint sounds of hammering and construction, with workers already busy trying to rebuild what had been lost in the last attack.

Bryn had woken up early and headed into the forest with Leo, eager to scout for any signs of trouble. Meanwhile, Ethan was still sound asleep, despite our best efforts to wake him up. That left Maya and me to handle the task we were originally hired for—protecting the workers as they built the wall.

"I can't believe they dumped everything on us," Maya muttered, her tone laced with frustration.

"You should've complained yesterday," I reminded her.

"I was sleepy. No one thinks straight when they're sleepy," she huffed in defense.

"If you say so," I chuckled, amused at her reasoning. The silence that followed was comfortable, though the weight of the day ahead hung between us.

"You ready for this?" Maya asked after a while, breaking the quiet.

"Always," I replied.

When we reached the construction site, the workers were already hard at it, stacking stones and reinforcing the half-built wall. A stocky foreman, his face worn from years of labor, approached us, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"You the adventurers?" he asked, eyeing us with a mix of skepticism and hope.

"That's right," Maya confirmed. "We're here to keep the workers safe and make sure the wall gets built without any interruptions."

The foreman nodded, his expression grim. "Good. We've had a hell of a time getting this wall finished. Every time we make progress, those damn beasts show up. We lost two men last week."

"We'll do everything we can to make sure that doesn't happen again," I said, trying to sound confident, even though the task ahead made me uneasy.

Maya and I split up to cover more ground, each of us taking a position on either side of the construction site. I stood near the treeline, my eyes scanning the forest where the beasts had been attacking from. The clinking sound of stone being laid filled the air, a rhythmic reminder of the job we had to protect.

"Are we seriously being guarded by kids?" one worker whispered loudly enough for me to hear.

"Couldn't we have hired professionals for this?" another grumbled.

I ignored their comments, deciding it wasn't worth reacting to. Instead, I focused on the task at hand, though standing around with nothing happening quickly became boring. My mind began to wander, drifting back to things I hadn't thought about in a long time.

I wondered what Aiden's first quest had been like—if he'd even done one yet. Were the other kids from the orphanage doing okay? Every time I asked Mr. Thorne, he reassured me that they were fine, but I couldn't help but worry. And what about this mysterious aunt I supposedly had? Was she really out there, somewhere? I'd never had an aunt before—only an uncle.

Right, my uncle. He was the one who took care of me after my parents died. I wondered if he ever got married. He was single for so long... although, I guess that was partly my fault.

Suddenly, shouts erupted from the other side of the wall. I shot to my feet and sprinted toward the commotion.

"What happened!?" I demanded, skidding to a halt in front of Maya.

The scene was chaotic. Blue spikes littered the ground, and several workers were struggling to get back on their feet, some bleeding from small cuts.

"I don't know," Maya replied, her brow furrowed. "Spikes just shot out from the forest—there were a lot of them."

Before I could respond, a whistling sound filled the air. I turned toward the forest just in time to see hundreds of those same blue spikes raining down from the sky.

"Move!" I shouted, shoving Maya behind me and bracing myself.

[Plus Punch] — [Mana Shield]

With a swift motion, I channeled mana into my arm, transforming the circular wave of energy into a flat mana shield as I punched the air. The shield shot out and expanded, blocking the incoming barrage of spikes.

It was a trick I had developed out of necessity—switching from a pure spell like Plus Punch or Plus Step into a mana shield to increase its deployment speed. Since I didn't have much else to work with spell-wise, I'd spent months experimenting. The result was a broader, faster shield that could handle multiple attacks.

"How did you learn that?" Maya asked, clearly impressed.

"Lots of practice!" I called back, keeping my focus on the incoming spikes.

"More incoming!" Maya warned as another volley of spikes descended.

I repeated the process, launching punch after punch to create the mana shields, each one barely managing to deflect the next wave of projectiles. My arms ached, but I kept going, knowing that if I faltered for even a second, the spikes would tear through us.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the assault stopped.

"Is it over?" Maya asked, her voice cautious.

Before I could answer, the ground trembled, and from the forest burst a massive, boar-like creature. Its pale blue quills crackled with electricity, and its tusks gleamed wickedly in the sunlight. The beast's wild, enraged eyes locked onto the workers.

"Sparkhog," I muttered under my breath, recognizing the creature.

Without hesitation, it charged forward, electricity sparking off its quills in violent arcs.

[Plus Step]

I activated the spell and shot forward, feeling the familiar surge of mana rush through my legs. I barely managed to intercept the creature before it could reach the workers. My fist connected with the soft underside of the boar, the only part not protected by its quills. The impact sent the Sparkhog skidding back across the dirt.

The recoil from the punch, combined with the jolt of electricity from its body, sent a sharp pain through my arm, momentarily dazing me.

"Stay back!" I shouted to the workers, shaking off the numbness as I kept my eyes locked on the creature.

The Sparkhog snorted, its eyes glowing with fury. It wasn't done yet.

At that moment several more Spark hogs emerged from the forest, they all gathered together inching closer to us.

It made sense, I doubted a single spark hog could let out that many quills by itself and since spark hogs had a D class upper limit they were known to group together.

By now the worker's had left the place we were free to go all out, however we had to at least prevent too much collateral damage.

The spark hogs ran in unison huddling into balls and generated an intense build up of electricity between each other.

"That's no good"

It was pretty obvious what they were trying to do so I pulled Maya behind me and used another mana punch into mana shield combo to protect us in advance, unfortunately the shield began to break down.

Maya stepped up beside me, her whip-like mana strings crackling in each hand, she manipulated them the same way a person could stretch a rubber band between each hand making a pentagram and then throwing it forward.

I don't know how she did it but It seemingly attached to my mana circle and created something even more intricate. This new mana circle not only protected us from the quills but also expelled numerous strings which wrapped around themselves to form chains and wrapped around each and every one of the boars, pinning them to the ground.

"How'd you do that!?" I asked.

"I don't know" she said shrugging.

As we approached, we saw the hogs struggling against their restraints. Their eyes were wild, filled with a crazed frenzy and they appeared to be foaming at the mouth.

"What should we do with them?" I asked.

"We should keep them here until their mana depletes. Maybe someone can figure out why they're acting so crazed," Maya suggested, her tone practical.

"Or," she added with a greedy glint in her eye, "we could sell them."

I laughed, shaking my head. It had been a while since she'd made a remark like that.

"So, do we just sit here guarding them all day?" I asked.

"Seems like it," Maya replied with a sigh. "We could call the workers back, though."

"They're gonna freak out if they see these things," I pointed out.

"Good. Ungrateful bunch. This quest doesn't even pay that much," she muttered,

I was sure she had heard them complain about her not being qualified to keep them safe so I decided to ignore her grumbles, however I was curious as to how she had knowledge of how much this quest paid.

"Anyway, let's go-"

Just as we were about to settle in, a loud chorus of grunts and squeals echoed from the forest. A fresh group of Sparkhogs burst through the trees their quills sparking, but this time, they weren't attacking—they were fleeing.

"Why are they running?" I asked, confused.

Then I saw him. Bryn, riding atop Leo, chasing after the Sparkhogs with a wild grin on his face. Leo pounced on a group of the beasts, tearing into them with his claws while Bryn leapt off and pursued the others that were headed toward us.

We both moved to assist, but Bryn moved faster than we anticipated. With a single motion, he brought his hands down, and a gust of wind swept over us. I felt a light cut on my cheek as the Sparkhogs collapsed, their bodies riddled with deep, precise wounds.

Finally noticing us, Bryn looked up with a casual wave. "Hey guys, how's it going?"

Maya and I exchanged glances, forcing smiles as we waved back.