บท 21: Very Hot Hot Spring
The shock wave knocked out the breathing and hearing of everyone in the mountain range. It was as if the world had been turned off, especially since the dust cloud was still blocking their vision, turning everything in sight into a dusty brown color.
Despite no one personally experiencing it, the mountain still had rocks falling down in droves. But the thunderous collapse had already obliterated or blown away anyone standing too close to the mountain so the straggling boulders didn't hit anyone.
A few moments later, as if on cue, when beasts began to gather their bearings, the gathered thunderclouds let loose. Rain poured down like a waterfall, pulling the dust with it to the ground, covering the mountains in mud.
The barely recovered senses of everyone was once again assaulted by flashing lightning and rumbling thunder. The mountains repeatedly trembled and looked like a flashing light as the darkness brought by the falling rain was repeatedly chased away by the lightning strikes.
In the middle of this chaos some beasts suffered more than others. The mammoth, who had been closest to the mountain at the time of it's collapse, narrowly escaped death as it, despite it's size was sent flying like a temperamental child's rag doll.
The wolves and deer who had gathered close to the hole in case a fight between their leaders broke out were also struck hard by the explosive crumbling. They had a lot of weaker members, even if the weakest had been left outside the mountain, that had their internal organs ruptured. The ensuing thunderous chaos led to a stampede as an instinctual fear took over as the smell of death spread through the mountains.
The crashed mountain and thunderstorm had disoriented most beasts and even if the stampede charged wildly with the goal of escaping the mountains there were a lot of casualties as the beasts ran around wildly, trying to find a single direction to follow. But eventually the stampede unified and left the mountain like water bursting through a broken dam, and the beasts spread in all directions as the stampede fizzled out.
After almost all the beasts vacated the mountain range, the pouring rain and flashing lightning filled the mountains with a serene sense of calm that had been nonexistent during the last week.
Toz looked out at the blood covered ground before turning his gaze to Lucy hiding beneath his coat, water dripping from his hair. Nil had returned to the familiar space as soon as the rain started falling. While Lucy also wanted to avoid the rain, he wanted to see the chaos he had managed to inflict on the beasts gathered more.
Toz could feel Lucy's body trembling against his own, whether it was from shock or excitement was unknown.
While they continued taking in the wreckage and various remains were flushed away a slight rumble echoed out from the ruined mountain. The rumble was followed by a small section of the rocks disappearing and being replaced by drops of lava splashing up and smattering on the nearby stones before cooling down in the rain. As more and more rocks disappeared down in the lava, the hole that had just been covered by the fallen mountain reopened but this time it was filled with lava that despite being showered by the rain and the incessant sizzling noises, showed no signs of cooling down.
The lava bubbled slowly and churned but without any signs of welling over. The rocks that had fallen in had pushed the surface level to be the same as the mountain's remains around the lava spring.
The heat from the lava spring started spreading and turned the damp atmosphere into a tropically humid one.
After everything calmed down with no signs of further carnage Lucy sneaked back into the familiar space, leaving only Toz and the egg in the rain.
Toz wondered if he should head back to the cave to wait out the rain and let the beast still roaming around outside the mountains leave, before leaving himself. But before he came up with a decision the egg in his arms started trembling slightly, and considering the egg's previous habits Toz didn't need much more to start heading toward the pool of lava.
The egg's trembling increased as they got closer to the lava and Toz, unsure of what to do exactly just kind of tossed it in from a safe distance once the heat started becoming unbearable.
The egg landed and gently floated around on the surface, seemingly enjoying a very hot hot spring bath. It didn't absorb the heat wildly like it had done the other night, instead it only gathered small amounts of mana and heat that it covered itself in before absorbing it through it's shell.
As the egg continued bathing, the rain unsurprisingly stopped not that long after it started and Toz removed the hood that had tried to shield his head from the rain.
With the rain gone, Nil and Lucy came out and watched the egg from a safe distance together.
"Toz-Toz, do you think it's gonna hatch soon?"
"Yeah, probably but you never know, maybe it's gonna sink back down into the ground for another ten thousand years of incubation."
Lucy looked shocked at that response, understandably so. One of the reasons he had stirred up so much chaos to begin with was so that they could escape any pursuers aiming for the treasure in Toz's hands. Although Lucy got to have his fun as well, it would be extremely disheartening if all of their hard work was just to let the egg get some fresh air before disappearing for what might as well be another eternity.
"Don't worry, that's not gonna happen," Nil said as he comforted Lucy with a one-armed side hug.
Nil mainly based his reassurance on the fact that the spirit beast in the egg had already started condensing it's body and consciousness. If it tried to enter a dormant state like that it would probably not wake up ever again.
Since nothing seemed to be happening any time soon, Lucy curled up to sleep on Toz's lap, although Nil shared it with him Nil didn't go to sleep as he started discussing what to eat for dinner with Toz. With a lot of freshwater straight from the heavens they settled for a meat stew.
As they argued about what ingredients to use, and what kind of meat to put in they mammoth rose up from the indentation in the mountain it had crashed into earlier. Toz and Nil didn't even need their extraordinary senses to notice the massive creature's movements.
While the beast struggled to stand up, Toz woke Lucy up and Nil jumped down on the ground. Even if the beast was on the verge of death it was still a very strong third level beast, holding back could prove fatal. Toz and Nil were still completely focused on the mammoth's actions but they both knew the main ingredient for today's dinner had been decided.
Toz, Nil and Lucy had worked together on many hunts and didn't need much communication to decide on what to do. After Lucy woke up and learned of the situation he disappeared into a few nearby shadows. Nil went of to the side and started preparing.
Lucy had spent a lot of his time focusing his magic on stealth and debuffs. Nil was an expert at making traps. Toz had been inspired by Lucy and used darkness as a support to his close combat adapted body reinforcement, and attack magic using summoned metal items.
However he also spent a lot of time using both kinds of mana to create a permanent sword. Everyday using a bit of mana to condense it further, tightening the structure making it sturdier and sturdier. The combination of metal and darkness had led a dark matte double edged long sword, the blade as long as his legs. The one handed handle wrapped in a layer of billowy shadows. The sharpness and sturdiness it possessed was rarely needed Toz didn't often bring it out, but against a foe that had proved it's strength there was no need to keep it hidden.
The mammoth had stood up, and despite it's brain being rattled from the physical shock of being blasted into a mountain it had still managed to identify Toz as the one who had taken the orb down in the pit. With a weak yowl it initiated an even weaker charge. It was a sad display, but it's pride wouldn't let it walk away from a chance to reach the fourth level.
The mammoth didn't run a long distance before a shadow covered it's eyes, directly after it lost it's vision it felt something grab onto it's legs. The hold on it's legs wasn't strong but before it could move to break free completely it left front leg stepped on something and a sharp pain shot up it's ankles. Bending a knee, the mammoth tilted to the side and with it's vision still gone it didn't notice Toz approaching at startling speeds.
Toz weaved between the menacing tusks and dove under the huge and violently moving head. Even if the mammoth was halfway to the ground he still needed to stretch out his arms to reach it's neck and slit open the throat.
After slitting it's throat Toz retreated before dashing back, up on it's head and stabbing it's brain through one of it's eyes.
With the kill secured Toz regrouped with the other two as they started preparing the beast for consumption. With it's size it would be best to begin as fast as possible since it is a lot of work.
With their flawless cooperation it wasn't difficult to bring down the mammoth but they all knew it was due to it's severe injuries. In a healthy state the mammoth's flames would have burned away the shadows almost instantly, any attempt tro try and immobilize it would have been ignored and it's trunk would have swept Toz of his feet without him being able to land a proper strike. That was how terrifying the beast had been, as well as how severe it's injuries were.
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