This chapter is sponsored by The Bitch in the Fantasy World Patrons:
• Adventurer GrimV
• Adventurer The orc warrior 261
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Octus 28, 3023 A.M., day of Satur, 1:30 p.m.
A group of 6 people was riding on a Karfax and traveling across a forest.
"Are you sure this is a shortcut?" a woman in her mid-20s with orange curly hair wearing a black cloak over a brown dress and riding third in line of the group said with an accent that revealed she was from the Orion Kingdom.
A black-haired man in his early 30s with a Platinum I Adventurer pendant around his neck, wearing an old orange cloak over a set of leather armor and a leather belt pouch, and riding in the second place of the group, turned to her.
"Nova is one of the best trackers in the Orion Kingdom. She could track almost anything and our group has crossed the Great Forest of Ana'thema countless times in the past, Ms. Summer," he said with a reassuring tone.
"I understand that, but we need to be at the Plains of Rue before the sun sets. The Never Flower only blooms for 1 hour in the last week of Octus and I need to prepare the necessary things when I find it. A second too early or too late, all of this will be for nothing."
The black-haired man nodded.
"I understand, Ms. Summer," he said and then turned to Nova, who was a woman in her early 30s with short green hair and riding at the front.
Just like the black-haired man, she too was wearing a Platinum I pendant around her neck over a set of leather armor and a leather belt pouch. But instead of an orange-colored cloak, she was wearing a black one.
"Not a word, Milo," Nova said dismissively. "We'll get there when we'll get there."
Milo, the black-haired man, let out a wry smile and then shook his head mentally.
"Would you like me to sing you a song, Ms. Summer?" a man in his late 20s with brown hair and riding behind Summer asked. He too, was more or less wearing the same attire, but his cloak was purple, and he had a Gold II pendant around his neck.
"We're in a forest, Ollie," a bespectacled man in his late 20s with long gray hair wearing more or less the same attire with a black cloak and a Gold II pendant around his neck said behind him. "We don't want to attract any unnecessary issues, and we want to see any incoming issue."
Ollie turned to him with a raised eyebrow.
"Doesn't it even make any difference, Cealan? We're one of the best Adventurer groups in Orion Kingdom."
Cealan pushed up his glasses.
"By not being careless."
Thud!
A woman in her late 20s with short and spiky hair and was riding behind Cealan, pounded her fists against each other. She, too, was wearing the same outfit, but her cloak was dark green and she had a Gold II rank necklace around her neck.
"I don't mind getting into a bit of exercise right now! My ass has been hurting all this time from sitting on this Karfax!"
"You guys, we're in the presence of a client, come on," Milo announced. "There will be no singing and talking. The only time we would talk if there's something important to discuss about."
***
5:12 p.m.
Plains of Ru'e.
Milo and Cealan were busy cooking at the small camp that they made: there was a small bonfire encircled with stones with a pot of stew on top of it, a small and simple triangular-shaped tent that was just enough for two people to sleep in, and their Karfaxes were resting nearby.
The place they chose to set up camp was right at the edge of the Plains of Ru'e, but still a couple of meters away from the forest.
As for the Plains of Ru'e itself, as its name suggests, was a wide, open and endless field.
During spring and summer, the entire field would be field with different kinds of plants and flowers that are used for eating and brewing potions. So during that time, a lot of people would travel here to harvest them.
During autumn, which was the current season, although there was still grass, when it came to the plants and flowers, there was barely any left. However, there was the Never Flower that their client, Summer, hired them to escort her here in order to harvest it.
The Never Flower itself was rare because it only appears at night during the last week of Octus and it only blooms for 1 hour. Now, when it comes to its uses, no one really knows. However, Summer believes that she has found a "secret way" on how to use it. And once she confirms her the validity of that "secret way", she plans to submit her findings to the Patent Office shared by the Temple of Wizards and Temple of Blacksmiths in the Orion Kingdom, have the recipe be patented, be rewarded with a Scholar title or earn enough prestige to get closer in being rewarded with the Scholar title, and then receive a lifetime of royalties from whoever tries to use her patented recipe in any way, shape and form.
And during winter, the whole field of the Plains of Ru'e would be covered by snow and with barely any plant life.
As for where their other companions were, Ollie and Martha were escorting Summer while she inspected the field where the Never Flowers might bloom.
Nova, on the other hand, was scouting the forest near their camp, trying to see if there was anything that could pose a problem to them.
"So it's going to end like this, eh?" Cealan said as she stirred the pot with a ladle.
Milo, who was busy peeling the leaves of a couple of flowers he had picked up earlier for cooking, stopped and looked at him.
"Did you say anything?"
Cealan grabbed a stick and poked the burning wood under the pot to reduce the flames.
"I said: So it's going to end like this?"
"Oh…" Milo said and then resumed peeling the leaves of the flowers. "Yeah…"
Cealan stirred the stew one more time before finally relaxing.
"I've reduced the flames. Throw in the herbs before it's too late."
Voo-voo-vooom!
Milo quickened his pace. And when he was finally done plucking all of the leaves, he placed them on the stew, grabbed the ladle, and then stirred it a bit.
"Oh yeah, it smell fucking great!" he said with a huge grin on his face.
Seeing him, Cealan let out a chuckle.
"It better be."
Milo looked at him.
"Oh, you bet it's going to be -- there's fresh herbs, fresh meat, great view, everything is just perfect!"
He let go of the ladle and then relaxed as well, looking at the wide, open and endless field that Cealan was looking at.
"So how's the young ones?" he asked.
"They're still preparing for the Gold I Rank exam," Cealan replied.
"With you as their Instructor, I know they will pass the written exams."
"Yeah…"
A small smile appeared on Milo's lips as he thought about something.
"I heard that Martha almost broke the young boy's back."
Cealan chuckled.
"I actually think she did. She also dislocated the young girl's left shoulder."
"Well… Martha can be a bit rough when sparring. But she's good people."
"Yeah, she is..."
Almost a minute passed.
"A fresh Gold I Rank Warrior and a Hunter. I know we've already discussed this, but wouldn't it be better if you and Nova continued training them?" Cealan said.
Milo shook his head.
"Nova and I already gave them all of the basic knowledge we know. The rest, they should be with you, Ollie and Martha, because you guys would be the ones they're going to spend time going on Quests with."
Cealan was silent.
"And plus," Milo continued. "We would like to focus on our new lives."
Another minute passed.
"Have you ever thought it's going to end like this?" Cealan asked.
"What do you mean?"
Cealan pushed up his glasses.
"It's not that I don't get it, I simply understand that not everyone is destined to have this grand and epic last quest or adventure before finally putting down the mantle. But still, when you retire or someone you know retire, there's always that question in my head: Is that it? All of those years just like that?"
"But we did have some great Quests, though."
Cealan shrugged.
"If you put it that way."
A moment of silence returned between them once again.
"Just between you and me," Milo said. "If you had the choice to go on a grand and epic last quest before you retire, where would you even get it?"
Cealan thought about it for a moment.
"I'll probably cross the seas and go to the Oriental Continent."
"I heard that it's quite hot there, not hot like the desert in the Southern Continent, but close to it. Warm I guess."
"Yeah, I've heard."
"But I don't think there's any Adventurer Guild there, only Mercenary Guilds."
Cealan looked at him.
"Maybe 5-7 years from now, you could hire me to find you a rare item or jewelry at the Oriental Continent that you can give as a gift to your wedding anniversary with Nova."
Milo turned to him and nodded.
"Yeah, that's a great idea," he said and smiled.
Vooom!
Someone suddenly appeared and it was Nova.
"I've covered about 5 miles from this area and also set up a couple of traps nearby. Everything is good," she said and then sat down with them around the bonfire. "So, what's new?"
"Just waiting for Ollie and Martha to come back with Ms. Summer," Milo said.
Cealan grabbed the ladle from the pot and stirred.
"Just making sure this stew tastes good for Ms. Summer."
Nova took out a couple of freshly picked fruits from her leather belt pouch.
"Oh, I forgot about these," she said as she placed them on top of a piece of cloth.
Seeing the fruits, Milo's eyes turned wide.
"Nice! Let's also add them to the --"
"No," Cealan and Nova said.
He looked at both of them with a confused expression.
"What? Why?"
"Not everything can be thrown into a pot of stew," Nova said with an accusing tone.
His jaw dropped.
"I've never done that!" he said and then focused on Cealan.
Cealan shook his head as he continued stirring.
"Sometimes, your taste can be a bit weird…"
***
11:39 p.m.
Milo and Cealan were still at the camp, guarding their supplies and the Karfaxes.
Neither men talked. They were simply focused on watching their surroundings while equipping a Magic Item that had the Vision Magic Effect.
Milo was in charge of keeping an eye on the south where the forest was located. Meanwhile, Cealan was in charge of keeping an eye on the north where Summer was being escorted by Nova, Ollie and Martha.
Their plan was simple.
In case Milo and Cealan would notice or encounter a possible threat, Cealan would immediately launch a flare.
And in case Summer, Nova, Ollie and Martha would notice or encounter a possible threat, Nova would immediately launch a flare.
Ring~ Ri--tak!
A small bell near Milo that was tied to a string connecting to the forest and attached to a stick that was stabbed into the ground, rang for a bit before it suddenly fell to the ground.
Crack!
"Something trigger--" Milo wasn't even able to finish.
Wondering what happened, Cealan turned to check on him.
Milo had his neck twisted into the opposite direction and his lifeless body was being held with one hand by a 5-meter-tall demon with 6 arms.
Cealan widened and his jaw dropped as he stared at the demon.
As a seasoned Adventurer, he was, of course, familiar with demons. He knew that the demon in front of him wasn't a Lesser Demon, or else it would only have had 4 arms. But instead, it had 6 arms, which meant it was a very rare and powerful Demon, something that only a very small and handful of Chaos worshippers get to be. In fact, the chances of someone meeting a Demon was like a homeless person getting an audience with a King, an Emperor or a Light Saint.
Gulp.
He swallowed as he noticed some of the eyes of the giant demon focused on him, and then the demon shifted its body to face him.
"YOU'RE NOT GOING TO MOVE, BLUEIE?"
"What do you want…?" Cealan said as he slowly started to move his hand to reach out for the flare in his pocket.
Chak!
The demon suddenly stabbed Cealan on the face with one of its giant fingers, penetrating all the way through the back of his head.
The demon moved so fast that Cealan's brain was still in the middle of sending instructions to its body that its body, not realizing that its head was already dead, still managed to control its hands to pull out a flare and launch it.
Chud!
The demon caught the burning flare with one of its free hands and then crushed it.
***
"I found another one!" Ollie announced, causing Summer to rush over him.
When she got to him, she immediately knelt on the ground, took out her tools from her bag, and then began extracting the part of the Never Flower that she needed.
As for Nova and Martha, Nova was focused on watching their surroundings, mainly away from their camp because she already had Milo and Cealan covering that part, while Martha was busy searching for other Never Flowers.
All of a sudden, Nova's Class Magic spell, [Danger Sense], triggered, causing her to be in a somewhat battle-ready position as she speedily but carefully swept her gaze around her.
"NOW WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE?" a loud, low and distorted voice suddenly rang in their ears.
Except for Summer, everyone stopped what they were doing and then turned in the direction of where the voice was coming from.
Just a few meters away from where they were standing was a 5-meter-tall demon with 6 arms. And on its 6 arms, 2 of them were holding the corpses of Milo and Cealan as if they were nothing but dolls.
"A BUNCH OF MORE BLUEIES?"
Nova activated a skill and a spell.
[Mana Bow].
[Enchant Poison].
And then aim it at the demon.
[Power Arrow].
Wooh!
"Ollie take Summer away, Martha I'll back you up!" she said as she released the skill.
Vooom!
Chud!
Vooom!
Ollie rushed over to Summer, scooped her in his arms, and then ran away.
Vooom!
Martha rushed over to the demon as she cast a skill.
[Mana Fist].
A large and spiky gauntlet made out of blue mana appeared on her left fist, and then she cast a Class Magic spell.
[Endure].
A green translucent light appeared on her body before disappearing, and then she cast another Class Magic spell.
[Vibrating Fists].
An invisible but distorting aura appeared around her fists.
Woo-pssh!
The arrow infused with [Enchant Poison] and [Power Arrow] that was shot by Nova finally landed on the demon's head but showed no effect whatsoever, not even a scratch.
When Martha got about 10ft away from the demon, she leaped in the air and twisted her body to prepare her left fist.
[Power Fist].
Bam!
Her fist on the demon's head and it showed the same result.
Thud.
As Martha dropped to the ground and performed a couple of back-flips to distance herself from the demon, Nova threw something.
Psssh! Psssh!
An orange smoke and a purple smoke erupted on the demon's face.
"ROOOAAARRR!!!" the demon roared as it shook its head and it took two steps back.
Although Physical and Magic Force allow a being to perform god-like feats, cast skills and spells, and block skills and spells, some beings, especially the living ones, are still bound to "science", specifically chemicals.
Nova cast another Class Magic spell as she took out a Mana Potion from her leather belt pouch and drank it.
[Nature's Guardian].
Vooom!
A 1-meter-tall and 3-meter-long wild boar made out of wood and vines with glowing blue eyes manifested in front of her, and then charged.
Martha took out a Gas-Bomb from her leather belt pouch as she ran over to the side in order to not to get in the way of the Nature's Guardian.
The demon activated a spell.
[Greater Origin Transformation].
Blaaak!
Vooo-braaak-chud-chud!
In the blink of an eye, the demon destroyed the Nature's Guardian as if it were nothing but an object made out of loosely piled toothpicks, and then grabbed Nova and Martha with two of its free hands.
"ENOUGH GAMES."
Crack, crack!
The demon pressed its giant thumbs on their faces, breaking their necks, and then focused on searching for Ollie and Summer.
Vooom!
The demon turned into a blur the moment it spotted them.
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Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
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