They were close. Elise had already lost her sense of time, so she didn't know how many weeks or months had passed. Of course, she got tired and slept whenever they took a rest, but she didn't count how many times it had been.
She walked, trained, slept, and walked again. But ever since she figured out how to absorb and use the Energy within her body, the Traveler asked her to practice it constantly. He always kept his eyes on her, warning her if she did something wrong or missed a crucial point.
She mostly focused the Energy into her legs because of the constant walking. However, while doing her physical training, she discovered which of her muscles worked the hardest by sensing her inner Energy flow, and kept feeding them with external Energy.
That allowed her to walk longer without collapsing, and her training no longer exhausted her. She was even close to a hundred reps for each exercise. All this progress made their journey to the mountain much faster, and finally, they reached the outskirts of the giant volcano.
But they had a slight problem in front of them.
The mountain's surroundings were not as uninhabited as the rest of the Realm. They discovered the river they had encountered earlier originated from this mountain. One of the mountain's glowing cracks formed a small lake on its slopes, turning into a river as it spread through the land.
Of course, life had also found its way here. Giant crystals were everywhere, even bigger than before. But those were not the problem.
Elise and the Traveler stood on a small hill, observing the land between them and the volcano. The plains were filled with all kinds of purple-scaled creatures. Some were in the river and some in the sky, but most were scattered around the volcano. She had never seen a gathering of that scale before. There were easily millions of them.
None of them were alike. Each had a unique feature that set it apart from the rest: a different type of horn, claw, hoof, wing, or overall build. Some even had extra limbs.
Watching them in awe from afar, Elise realized something. They were not only similar to the creatures that had attacked her in the river, but also to the monster she had fought before coming to this Realm.
Unfortunately, they were not the only things in view. A massive structure rose on the other side of the mountain. They could only see a small section of it from the side, resembling a dark stone castle.
"What the hell is going on here?"
Elise was shocked by the sudden development. They had traveled through an almost entirely empty land since they arrived. Now, countless unknown creatures stood ahead of them, with a castle looming above. Something was definitely not right.
"This looks worse than I thought." The Traveler stood next to her, calmly observing the land while stroking his beard. "But let's look at the bright side; we have lots of training material."
"Training material?" Elise looked at the purple abominations in the distance. "Those things?"
He threw her sword at her as an answer, and she caught it mid-air. How much time had passed since she last held it? She never thought she would miss her weapon that much. The feeling of holding it once again was priceless. She looked at it, savoring the feeling for a moment, which almost made her miss the Traveler's words.
"You look warmed up enough. Let me catch one for you real quick."
"Wait, what?" The shock woke her from her special moment.
The Traveler raised one hand as if trying to reach for something, then grabbed the empty air. Suddenly, one of the creatures appeared in his grasp. It was rather small compared to the others. The Traveler held it by the neck, its tail not even touching the ground.
It was small, but its body was disproportionately muscular. It only had two large limbs ending in razor-sharp claws, and a thick tail twice as long as its body, tipped with a pointy bone. Its head looked like it consisted solely of a giant mouth filled with hundreds of teeth and a pair of large, prominent eyes. It struggled to escape, but the Traveler didn't seem to care, turning his head toward her instead.
"Are you ready?" He looked at her with joyful eyes and a wide smile, then tossed the creature onto the ground in front of her.
She drew her sword as fast as possible and cast away the scabbard. The creature didn't pause for a single second when it landed. It charged right at her, launching itself forward with its giant arms. It aimed straight for her neck with its jaws unhinged, claws ready to rip her apart.
She barely dodged and tried to counterattack, but her body couldn't keep up with her mind. The gravity in this Realm still prevented her from moving as freely as she wished. The creature evaded her sword with an agile movement, leaping at her again the instant it touched the ground.
She prepared for its attack, planning to dodge the claws and close the distance to sever its head. The move did not require much agility, just a bit of precision at close range. Even though she hadn't used her sword recently, her muscle memory would allow her to execute the strike successfully. It was her best option in her current condition.
The creature twisted in midair as if understanding her intention, swinging its tail instead.
She barely reacted in time to block the tail aimed at her head with the flat of her blade. The heavy impact made her lose her balance. The creature attacked again the moment it landed, giving her no chance to recover. With her sword held low, an upward slash was her only immediate option.
Her arms and sword didn't come up as fast as she hoped. She stared at the creature's wide-open mouth hurtling right at her face. She jumped backward to dodge, knowing it was too late. She braced for the pain, but it never came.
The monster stopped mere inches from her face, snapping its jaws but unable to reach her. It fell face-first into the dirt, revealing what had happened. The Traveler was holding it back by the tail. He yanked the creature backward and slung it effortlessly over his shoulder. It thrashed and struggled, but there was nothing it could do.
"What are you doing?"
What kind of question was that? She was fighting with everything she had to defeat that thing, but in her current condition, it was far from an easy task.
"I am trying to stay alive!" she snapped, deeply offended by the question.
"Why aren't you using Energy?"
She froze for a moment. She had completely forgotten. Her body had reacted on instinct alone, her mind reverting entirely to the habits of a conventional sword fighter.
"Yes, you are way stronger and more accustomed to this place than before, but your body is nowhere near as resilient as this monster's. You must still use Energy while fighting to close that gap. Now catch your breath and start again. This is the first and last time I will intervene."
Elise did as he instructed, taking a deep breath. The Energy immediately started to flow inside her. She distributed it throughout her body, reinforcing her muscles. She gave him a firm nod. She was ready.
He threw the creature in front of her once more. Just like the last time, it attacked the instant it landed. She took a swift step aside to dodge. Her movements were noticeably more fluid and precise now. She swung her sword in a lethal arc as the creature flew past her.
The lower half of the creature dropped motionless to the dirt. She thought it was over, but then she felt something. It was not as strong as before, but the creature's bloodlust lingered. She turned sharply and brought her sword up. The creature's upper half was hurtling right at her. She caught it midair and cleaved it in two. This time, she knew it was over.
"That's more like it," the Traveler said with a satisfied nod.
She cleaned her blade with a quick flick of her wrist and inspected the creature's remains. Two claws, one head, one tail. Every part seemed designed for a single purpose: killing. The movements of these purple-scaled creatures—both this one and the previous ones she had encountered—were more aggressive than any animal she had ever seen. There was something about them that deeply bothered Elise.
She looked out at the flatlands surrounding the mountain. Countless similar beasts roamed the plains. "What are those things?"
"They are artificially made, Energy-fueled battle organisms."
"They are what?"
"You could call them golems."
"Aren't golems usually made out of rocks and clay?" She had seen one before in the Capital back home.
"Not necessarily. Look." He pointed at the dead creature. Its largest remaining segment was slowly inflating.
Elise remembered her first encounter with one of them and quickly backed away, but it was unnecessary. The Traveler plunged his hand into its chest cavity and pulled out a fist-sized, ominously glowing purple crystal. The rapid inflation immediately stopped.
"This is the core. Someone programmed and stored Energy inside it to animate this thing."
"Programmed?" That was a word Elise had never heard before.
"I'll explain later." He crushed the crystal in his fist. The raw Energy inside scattered, but was instantly absorbed by the Traveler.
"Wasn't that like the crystals those crustacean creatures grew on their backs for storing Energy?"
"Exactly. Look down there." He gestured toward the crystalline formations around the mountain's base. "They are cultivating those crystals and mining them to mass-produce more of these flesh golems."
Elise had so many questions racing through her mind. How? Why? And most importantly... who? Who could have engineered such creatures? They were explicitly designed for combat. Was someone actively raising an army? An army of deadly, mindless brutes. A cold shiver ran down her spine.
"Don't overthink it. We will get our answers in there." He pointed at the looming castle on the far side of the volcano. "But first, you need to train properly. Let's continue."
"Are we going to keep practicing with swords?" Not that she was complaining. Using her blade always excited her.
"I travel to places far more dangerous than this one. I need to make sure you can hold your own."
He reached forward with one hand again, making a grasping motion. This time, a completely different beast appeared in his grip. It had eight limbs, covered entirely in protruding, jagged bones.
"Aren't they going to figure it out soon if we keep killing them?"
"Look closely; they are constantly killing each other for whatever reason. We can easily kill more than enough to train you before anyone realizes they are missing. Are you ready?"
Gripping her sword once again brushed away any lingering thoughts. She dropped into an aggressive stance and nodded.