章節 48: Ch 48: Delays and Scouting
After dealing with the rabbit-like beasts they quickly fled the area to find somewhere safe to recuperate.
After only a few minutes of peace, a mountain lion-like beast twice the size of the normal animal found them. It had large pincers, an exoskeleton covering its six legs and large insect wings.
It was also much stronger than the ones the group had just faced.
The more a dokunpal beast killed and ate of their prey the stronger they would get. They would eventually start eating each other as victims started to become scarcer.
If an infestation wasn't killed by outside means, it often destroyed itself once local resources were exhausted.
Thankfully they had numbers on their side and were able to make short work of it.
Unfortunately a bear-like beast with mantis-like forearms attacked only moments later. Its strength was just below the mountain lion.
That fight was followed by a horse-like beast with spider legs. It was the strongest of the three and was breathing a noxious gas that irritated their eyes and made it hard to breath.
Debrail's healing kept them from being overwhelmed throughout the fights but she was nearing her limit.
Piaras quickly had Haydn and Baldeur use their Mana to dig a deep hole in the ground. Once it was large enough for everyone to fit they climbed in and moved the loose earth above them and hardened it.
Kyriake caused a thick glowing lichen to grow on the ceiling of their hiding place. It would provide minimal light and would increase the air supply by a few hours.
The three elite beast corpses had been placed around the hole before they sealed themselves in.
It wasn't too long after they entered that movement could be heard above them. Loose dirt fell down as whatever beasts that had arrived started to feast on the bodies.
As time passed sounds of fighting and larger pieces of earth began falling along them. While they were exhausted, they still prepared themselves for a fight if it came to that.
The makeshift shelter held and the sounds from above went away after close to an hour.
A few hours after that the air started to become stale. Piaras created a small hole to the surface and he used his Coming Storm aspect to circulate air.
By that point they had started to relax. Even though they couldn't see the sky, they knew it was becoming night and chose to stay in their hideout.
Kyriake and Foam leaned against Nilo and fell asleep with their heads on his shoulders. Debrail's and Haydn soon did the same with Sigurd.
When he saw what the other woman had done, Mathys looked towards Aisling who was between him and Baldeur.
"I've never had a woman complain about using me as a pillow before." He lowered his shoulder and moved to wrap his arm around her.
She quickly moved what little she could towards Baldeur, almost crawling into his lap.
"I'm fine, thanks." Aisling said as she buried her head into Baldeur's shoulder.
He scowled at Baldeur and even raised his hand to intervene.
A small amount of pressure from Piaras stopped him. Giving up, he leaned back as best he could.
"Don't think this means anything. I just didn't want him." Aisling whispered. "Besides, your shoulder is stiff and boney."
"It's fine. You can use my body however and whenever you want." Baldeur whispered back.
He could already sense her face getting red from the moment she touched him and his words only made it worse.
As everyone settled in, Baldeur began to sing a gentle lullaby. His Divinus magic was carried with each note giving his companions a refreshing rest that increased their rate of recovery. Even after he fell asleep himself, Baldeur's magic hung in the air.
Having chosen to stay awake to keep watch, Piaras glanced towards the young man once he could hear the steady breathing of sleep coming from those around him.
Volundr had told him that Baldeur would surprise him and he could say that his boss was correct. Taking out rookies was usually a chore. But this young man often displayed the calm decision making of a veteran.
As morning came, Piaras sent his senses into the surrounding areas. With no threats detected he opened a way out.
Cracked bones and small pieces of flesh were strewn across the dried blood covered ground.
The group became more cautious as they continued forward. They avoided the beast as much as possible but still had to fight a few here and there. It took them five days longer to reach the valley the main cult was located in.
An odd thing that some of them picked up on were a number of ravens that were in the area. Piaras and Balduer noticed that when the ravens went quiet, a dokunpal monster was in the area. Their flight patterns also directed them away from dangerous areas.
A day before they arrived there, Aisling was starting to subconsciously scratch parts of her body.
Baldeur was already aware of the wards that repelled those with Infernius. He was having to ignore the itching feeling, which made it even more annoying.
For sentient beings, it was just plain annoying but they'd be able to push through if they had a place to be.
For the dokunpal beasts, it was enough for them to avoid the area by instinct.
"Is something wrong miss? I can help you scratch anywhere it itches." Mathys said.
"No, I'm fine. There must be something in the air I'm allergic to." Aisling said as she moved away from him.
Baldeur had been waiting for someone to point it out so he could solve the problem for her but Derbail beat him to it.
"Oh let me help you." She said. The glow of spring moved from Derbail to Aisling.
"That helped a little but my skin still feels irritated for some reason." Aisling said.
This time it was Haydn that jumped to the rescue before he could.
"I've been sensing a very faint Mana fluctuation, let's see if this helps." Haydn cast a spell that shielded her from the ward.
"Huh that's much better. Thanks." Aisling said.
Baldeur could only curse his own slowness. He wanted to earn some points by helping her out but didn't want to seem too informed on the matter.
Of course by this point he wasn't surprised that a ward that shouldn't exist on a world that didn't have Infernius as a source, was here.
It was night by the time they arrived at the entrance to the valley. A small barricade was being manned by a few very young people.
They looked barely old enough to hold a spear and didn't look like they'd be able to use them against even the weakest of monsters.
So why were they on night watch?
"They look easy enough to kill. I'll be back in a second." Mathys started to move but Sigurd's hand on his shoulder stopped him.
"Just hold on there. Let our leader make these decisions." He told him.
"We'll sneak around. There could be better guards in hiding. Plus we don't want to risk them alerting anyone deeper in the valley." Piaras said.
After a number of stealth spells were cast on their group, they easily made their way past the guards.
Once they were out of sight of the barricade but not too far in the valley, Piaras had most of them lay low while he and Kyriake turned into large birds to scout the valley.
Shortly after they left Baldeur noticed a raven in a nearby tree. They had seen many ravens in the mountains but he felt he had seen this one a few times.
The raven flew away after a few moments of Baldeur watching it. He was leaning towards someone having already spotted them. But the strange thing was, he didn't feel any ill will from the bird or the one possibly controlling it.
He let out a sigh and decided to bring out the trump card he really didn't want to use. From his dimensional storage he pulled out a pouch that contained about a dozen scrolls.
The reason he didn't want to use them wasn't because he was afraid of exposing his power. No, he didn't want to use them because his mother made them and would be asking to see them after the mission to know which ones he used.
Even though he was a man with over a thousand years of life experiences, he still didn't want to worry his mother with how dangerous his job was.
After flipping through the scrolls, he pulled out three and handed them to Aisling.
"What are these for?" She asked.
"Just a few things my mom gave me in case things go sideways. It might get dangerous." Baldeur said.
"Just give them back if you don't end up using them. She'll scold me if I use too many." He joked.
Aisling hadn't heard the last part as she began to look over what she had in her hand.
"I can't accept these. These…. This is too much. You should use them." She said.
"It's fine. I still have more than I need." He indicated the full pouch.
"Yes but these are…." She said.
"I know what these are, which is why I'm giving them to you. Just take them and don't hesitate to use them if you're in trouble." He said.
Before she could respond Haydn looked over her shoulder and saw the scrolls.
"Baldeur, who exactly is your mother? These are high grade sixth circle spells scrolls." Haydn said, pulling the attention of three others.
"Levanya Aslanbek. People say she's a decent scribe." He said.
"Decent? She's bloody brilliant. I can only scribe my second circle spells." Haydn said.
"Got any more you want to spare? I only have a mid grade fourth circle and a few low circle ones." Sigurd said without shame.
"Sure. Maybe my mom wouldn't give me that much grief if she knew I helped my companions." Baldeur said.
Sigurd's smile was from ear to ear as he looked at the high grade sixth circle haste scroll in his hands.
It was leagues above his third circle spell.
"You can pay me back after the mission." Baldeur said.
Sigurd's smile slipped a bit but he quickly slapped Baldeur on the shoulder.
"Of course, just as long as I get a good friend discount." Sigurd said.
Baldeur chuckled as he moved to the others to hand them a scroll with a spell that suited them.
Mathys took his reluctantly and began to look at Baldeur differently.
His father had taught him a bit about commerce and even though he was a playboy, he still had a good idea about the amount of money these scrolls could fetch.
Of course Levanya had been building this collection of scrolls for Baldeur since he signed his contract. He also had the ones his mother had made for his father when he would work beyond the gates.
A while later their two scouts returned. They hadn't seen anything suspicious and Piaras found the entrance to another shrine on the eastern side of the valley.
With more stealth spells they made their way towards the shrine.
創作者的想法 
Garthedes
Garthedes Well it's been a year since I updated. While I enjoy writing, working a full time job and dealing with personal stuff kept me from working on this. Then I was stuck with writers block.
My plan going forward is to write an arc before publishing. That way I will be able to space out my writing and won't leave people on a cliff hanger if I have to take an extended break between writing.
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