บท 7: The beginning... | Remnants Of Legends Arc #4
"Well, fuck."
Jaron, realizing the situation, used wind magic to alter the direction of acid a little. He managed to win a few seconds for the group to quickly get out of the epicenter. Jaron used his strings again to take Eleanor with him, while others did by themselves.
"This guy has a perfect vision with its 5 heads!" Hydra's heads were directly watching one of the group.
"Avoid the acid by any means necessary.!" Yelled Fayden.
Ash sent an ice spike towards Hydra, this was just to test if he could penetrate its scales somehow. Unfortunately, Ice-spike couldn't damage Hydra at all, but it did gain the attention of every five heads.
"Attack it while I have its attention!" Shouted Ash and others quickly understood.
While Ash was keeping Hydra's attention on him, by sending Ice-spikes and running around. Fayden finished preparing lightning swords. As the previous beast they encountered, he wanted to strike one of its eyes.
Fayden dashed towards Hydra, jumped on it, and quickly made his way towards one of the heads. When he was about to strike, one of the Hydra's heads turned to him while charging another attack of acid. But Fayden didn't stop, Jaron used his mana-string and warped them around that head and tugged at them to turn it around.
Fayden jumped over the head and brought his sword down in a stabbing motion.
And even though Jaron kept his strings on the head, manipulating it, the head managed to move just enough that instead of stabbing it, the sword sliced it right off.
"Shit!" Fayden exclaimed as he jumped away.
It was said that a hydra has very powerful regeneration, that cutting off its head would entail it to form two more.
And that's exactly what happened.
Backing away from the hydra, the five of them began making a plan.
"Jaron, take care of the heads with your strings. Ash, keep it from moving too much. Vonde, come with me." Fayden gave out orders.
"You bet!" Ash responded, while Jaron only nodded.
Vonde followed Fayden as they broke off from the group.
"Vonde, cover me, and watch out for the tail. And," Fayden generated electricity on his palms in the shape of a cylinder.
"Care to lend me some thunder?" He spoke with his signature playful grin.
Vonde nodded as he placed his palms over the electric construct.
Lightning mana surged through Vondes veins, as they were sucked in the hilt, and was that a blue tint?
He had no time to think as the hydra began cracking the ice surrounding it.
He took a deep breath in, "Well, wish me luck will ya?" He asked rhetorically as he rushed forward.
The hydra, noticing him, wildly thrashed and threw blobs of acid his way.
Spikes of ice arose from the ground to intercept the acid, giving Fayden enough time to maneuver around it.
Meanwhile, Vonde rose curtains of fire, obscuring the hydra's vision of him.
Fayden ran straight at the humongous body of the reptile, thunder crackling from the construct.
Jaron, noticing Faydens path, screamed out, "What the hell are you planning Fayden?"
"Just trust me on this one!" Came his reply.
Jaron grumbled something under his breath, that sounded vaguely like a 'reckless idiot'.
Ash stomped on the ground sending spiky columns towards the hydra.
The beast, unable to move, had to take the full brunt of the attack.
But that only made it madder, and the ice around him began breaking apart.
Fuck! Fayden thought I need to move faster.
Lightning pulsed around his calves as he sped up.
Although not without frying the nerves in his leg.
Even as he winced in pain, he kept running.
I can worry about my condition later.
He knew that he'd have an earful from Eleanor later, but what other choice did he have?
As he reached the beast, he slid under its belly, and pointing the cylinder towards it, he prayed that it would work.
The underside of the hydra exploded in blue-yellow light, as Fayden held the blue hilt of a yellow-bladed thunder longsword.
The same longsword which had stabbed through the thick scales of the hydra and pierced its heart.
But even then, the most curious thing was the blue coloration of the sword.
Blue lightning, no one had heard of it being used in centuries.
And he knew for certain that it wasn't him.
Vonde huh...you two get more interesting by the second.
Wait but before that, how the hell do I get out of here?!
It was at that moment did he notice that the hydra started falling, since death had left his legs unable to hold their enormous weight.
"Shit!" Fayden screamed.
But before he could be crushed by the beast, and likely killed, strings of mana grabbed ahold of his shoulders and pulled him out.
Fayden heaved a sigh of relief as he got up, dusting his clothes.
Only to get whacked at the back of his head by Eleanor.
"I guess I deserved that one." He chuckled.
"You are way too reckless for your own good." Jaron reprimanded him.
He shrugged, "Hey, it worked."
Jaron simply grunted in response.
Ash and Vonde walked towards them, both being exhausted by the battle.
"Hey Jaron, that guy Vonde," Fayden began.
"Hmm?"
"He created blue lightning." And just like that, he dropped the bombshell.
Jarons head snapped towards him, "What?!"
"Yeah, they're strong, scarily so. One has insane control over ice magic, and the other has the potential for blue thunder, something not seen in centuries." He deduced.
"Agreed, they would be a good addition to our team." Jaron nodded.
"Heh, so you have the same thought process huh?" Fayden shot back with a smirk.
"What thought process?" Eleanor asked.
Fayden's smirk turned to a grin as he responded, "You'll see soon enough Eleanor."
And thus, the Legendary party of the Five was formed.
A group of elite adventurers that would be remembered centuries down the line.
________________________________________
Minutes later Kaspian and the rest of the survivors came back, likely noticing the lack of noise.
As he saw us, he let out a sigh of relief and walked towards us. He still had to confirm if the boss was defeated.
Kaspian and the rest of the adventurers run-up to the group of five.
"Everyone, how are you all feeling? Anyone in critical condition?" Kaspian immediately asked them.
"No, everyone is still in good shape. Hydra itself is lying right there..." Fayden pointed at the large body of Hydra.
At first, Kaspian couldn't notice it because of the lack of light in this big dungeon, but now he could see. The big corpse was lying there unmoving.
"D-Did you defeat Hydra?!" Someone in Kaspian's group shouted.
"Yeah, I myself can't believe it haha..." Laughed Eleanor.
Couldn't be said that the rest of the adventurers weren't shocked. They knew of Eleanor and trusted her, so they didn't have any other choice, but to believe in her.
"Haha! A bunch of kids defeated an S-Class mana-beast and we couldn't even scratch it! This generation is full of monsters!." Joked another adventurer earning chuckles from everyone. Even from 4 young boys.
"This is cause for a celebration. Also..." Kaspian smiled wryly
"I want to congratulate all five of you personally. From now on you are S-Class adventurers, approved by the guild leader." Kaspian's words surprised everyone, but who they were to deny him.
"I witnessed a promotion to S-Class with my own eyes!" Screamed some adventurer.
"Oh, can we at least hurry to the surface? I'm extremely hungry!" Shouted Fayden
Kaspian chuckled before responding, "Very well, we will send someone down here to cultivate the remains later. Of course you five will get a share of the gold, which I'd reckon would amount to a pretty high value."
Jaron nodded in response, already having deduced that it would.
And the five adventurers began their ascent to the outside world, as the rest stayed back to help the guild workers when they arrived.
Along the way, Ash stopped them.
"The corpses, we need to bury them." He said solemnly, Vonde nodding in agreement.
Fayden simply shrugged, not understanding why it was so important. In the end, it didn't matter, basilisks are fossorial, they would find the bodies even if they were buried. But he agreed on a detour, noticing the almost sad looks on the duo's faces.
Jaron remained silent, analyzing their behavior and reaction to the corpses. Trauma from previous experiences, or personal reasons? He narrowed his eyes on the duo.
Only to be interrupted as Fayden nudged him.
"What is it?" He whispered.
Jaron shook his head. Now is jot the time to discuss this.
Fayden, having understood the gesture, shut up.
Eventually, they reached the frozen remains.
Kaspian widened his eyes on the scene, gasping slightly.
Ash had a grim smile on his face as he spoke, "Yeah, a lot died today."
Glancing at Vonde, he nods.
Vonde gets down to a knee and places his hand over the ground, sending a wave of heat towards the corpses, melting the ice.
Instantly the rancid smell of decaying corpses filled their noses, and they instinctively stepped back.
Ash formed an ice shovel, albeit a bit crude, and began digging.
"Wait, do you plan on burying them?" Kaspian interrupted.
"Yeah." Came Ash's reply.
"It would be better to send them to their families but.....with the number of corpses, it would be impossible." He sighs.
"Not impossible, it's quite in the realm of the possibility guild leader." Jaron spoke.
"It is?"
"Yes, but it all depends on Ash," Here he turned towards the ice user, "Are you up for it?"
"Yes"
"Then freeze them into an ice tomb as soon as I separate them." He orders.
"I see what you're planning Jaron." Fayden suddenly spoke up, "I'll help Ash in making the tombs."
Ash nodded gratefully at Fayden, who gave him a thumbs up along with a grin.
It took them the better part of an hour to separate each corpse and cover it in ice.
Jaron used his strings to lift them up, and Ash and Fayden froze them in caskets of ice, although Fayden looked much more exhausted than Ash.
Once it was all done, they piled up the tombs in a rectangle, thin enough to fit through the passage.
The tombs were then fused together by Ash.
Jaron attached multiple strings around the structure and held it up like it weighed nothing.
But after noticing the look of sheer concentration on his face, it was clear that he was being strained.
"How is he still going after spending all that mana? Doesn't he need to replenish it?" Eleanor asks suddenly.
The four adventurers look at her in confusion, and finally Fayden answers, "We've been doing that all this time. Can't you?"
Eleanor and Kaspian looked at them in confusion.
"Did you never notice us lasting entire dungeons without stopping?" Jaron asked.
"I just assumed you two had monstrous mana reserves." She replied.
The four of them glanced at each other, not realizing how unique their situation was.
Eleanor looks at Vonde and Ash and raises an eyebrow.
The two brothers sweatdrop and suddenly find the cave wall very interesting.
She turns back to the other duo, one of them whistling while looking away and the other had his eyes set in a deadpan stare.
Pinching the bridge of her nose she sighed, "We're gonna have a talk when we return.
And an ominous chill ran down the two orphans' spines.
"For now, let's focus on getting back." She looked back, her expression one of grief.
Both Ash and Vonde sympathized with her sadness.
Jaron simply chose to remain silent, everyone was entitled to their own opinion after all.
Fayden on the other hand only shrugged, finding it impractical to grieve over some strangers.
On the way back they had to stop once, to allow Jaron to rest, but soon they were out.
The first thing they did upon reaching the guild was defrosting the bodies, followed by taking a bath and changing into more casual clothes.
Jaron changed into a dark blue tunic, with brown trousers and a black hooded cloak.
Fayden on the other hand wore a black overcoat, with red highlights, a grey shirt underneath, and dark blue trousers.
Ash wore a black long coat over a black shirt and pants.
Vonde was equipped in baggy black pants, which were tugged in shin-high black boots, a long-sleeved undershirt, and a black military-style top.
As they sat down on a free table, Fayden looked at them strangely, "Are you two emos or something? Wearing only black." I'm totally calling them emo brothers from now on.
"By that definition aren't you like a half emo?" Jaron commented.
"You're one to speak, half of your clothes are black too." Fayden shot back.
Jaron looked down at his choice of clothing, he never was good at picking an outfit, "It would appear as such."
"These were the only ones I had." Ash responded.
Vonde nodded.
"I'm still calling you two edgelord and wannabe goth though." Was Faydens reply.
"Eh, you probably won't see much of us after this." Ash replied.
"Yeah about that." Fayden began, before leaning forward, all the mirth was gone from his face, "I'll be blunt, what do you say about forming a permanent party?"
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