"So, where is this special task?" Lucas asked as he limped behind Elliot. He clutched his bloodied chest, his breathing shallow as he dragged himself across the muddy swamp.
"Just shut up and follow us." Elliot said rudely, his voice flat. Elia led the path, her boots sank into the wet ground but she paid no mind.
Lucas let out a bitter laugh, 'How'd they even find me? By the way they introduced me, it seemed they had been watching me from the time I battled the Chamalien.'
Lucas grit his teeth as he continued forward, each step sank him further into the ground, but he persisted.
Elia stopped, before taking a sharp turn. Lucas peeped out from behind Elliot's large figure, God he hated how tall he was.
A few meters away was a large cave with hanging roots loomed in front of them, dark and creepy.
Elia stepped inside first, her hand brushing against the weathered rocks as Eliot followed.
"Yeah, sure, totally, follow them into the dark creepy cave. It's completely safe! Nothing bad will happen for sure!." Lucas muttered under his breath, silently cursing Elia, Elliot and their future generations.
But hesitantly, he followed.
Lucas trailed behind them, following for minutes, the atrocious smell of rotten eggs wrecked his nose and the dead soil inside the cave didn't make it any better.
With a sigh, Lucas finally complained. "You should've at least told me we were going into a dark, creepy cave which has dead plants and dead soil surrounding it.
"I would've at least brought a Bible and some holy water, maybe my nightly rosary beads." Lucas quipped.
Elliot exhaled deeply, "Stop." He declared as he turned towards Lucas, towering over him at 6'1.
Lucas took a step back, his body shook shakily as he forced out a laugh, "Hey, bro, it's just a joke." He said as he raised his hands in an effort to calm him down.
Elliot didn't mind him, he swatted his cheek, sending him crashing into the weathered walls, leaving behind a sizable crack.
Lucas groaned, his head reeling. A small wound tore open on his head, causing blood to spurt out. Lucas clutched his head, the blood staining his palm.
Elia glanced at him coldly, "Don't hurt the meat shield too much."
Elliot nodded, "I am getting sick and tired of your annoying little voice and your constant whining. Do your job, which is sacrificing your worthless life for us to succeed."
"Sure." Lucas agreed, going into a violent fit of cough as he shifted his body.
"Good." Elliot's tone was curt. "But you should know that speech right now? That wasn't nearly as tough as you think. It was just edgy." He added under his breath, with a grin.
Elliot overhead his muttered remark, before lashing out with a strike to his chest this time, driving Lucas into the wall.
"Know, your, place." He muttered venomously to his ear.
Lucas stayed silent for a minute before laughing maniacally, seemingly having struck gold.
Elliot gazed at him as Lucas waved his hand, "I'm not laughing at you, good sir. I'm just laughing at my own luck."
Elliot clicked his tongue before turning back, "What a crazy fellow."
Elia didn't respond but the slight curve of her lips upon witnessing Lucas's state said everything. She soon resumed walking.
Lucas coughed again, his breath ragged as he peeled himself from the wall. But something in his eyes had changed, the ones dull and cheery eyes were sharp, faintly defiant. "Yeah," he muttered, staggering forward, "crazy sounds about right."
He continued trailing behind them, recovering his mana slowly. Soon they arrived at a wide crack in the cave.
Elliot pushed him towards it. In front of him, laid a pack of wolves, massive, feral and moreover their eyes looked starved for meat.
Off to the side laid four dead wolves on which they were feasting on
Lucas froze, his breath hitched. "Of course…" he muttered under his breath, "because why wouldn't there be crazy cannibal murder puppies at the end of the tunnel?"
Lucas counted eleven wolves in total.
Elliot crossed his arms, his expression unreadable, "When we stumbled upon this, we were only able to take down four before having to retreat. These wolves are hungry and blood thirsty. They won't stop no matter what. We barely escaped with our lives…."
Elliot said with a smile, seemingly proud of the wolves before pointing to a singular wolf. It was large, quite large, bigger than its entire pack. Its eyes gleamed menacingly red as it watched its pack devour its former members.
Behind it laid a hay made nest where the cubs rested. "To complete the special task, you have to kill the golden cub behind the alpha." Elliot said while pointing to a complete gold coloured cub who rested quietly in the hay-made nest.
"We'll challenge the alpha, all you have to do is distract the other wolves….." Elliot's words hung in the air as Lucas took a minute to process it.
Lucas turned toward him with disbelief painted across his face. "You want me to what?!"
"Distract them, kill them. I don't care" Elia said, her tone calm, almost bored. "Jusy buy us enough time to kill the alpha."
Lucas blinked at her, a strained laugh leaving him. "Oh perfect—yeah, just buy some time, right? No big deal, just me against ten starving, cannibal wolves in a dark cave. Easy work. Maybe I'll make friends with them too while I'm at it."
Elia ignored him, taking out her daggers as she glanced at Elliot who brought out his axe.
"Ready?" Elliot asked.Elia gave a small nod.Lucas stared between them, his lips trembling into a crooked grin. "You two are insane. My ass is not touching a single piece of that soil! Sorry, you're on your own!"
But, as Lucas was getting ready to back out, Elliot abruptly placed his palm on Lucas's back. "Oh please, take some pity on me." He said, his expression crumbling into something genuinely pitiful.
Elliot's lips curled into a mocking grin, "Cry about it." He said with a scoff, shoving Lucas forward without a care in the world.
Lucas flailed in the air, "You bastard!" he shouted. As he came down with a loud thump, the pack collectively raised their heads from the carcasses from the loud sound.
Ten pairs of glowing ravenous eyes locked onto him. The wolves began to fan out, forming a jagged half-circle around him, their snarls grew louder as they prepared themselves to jump Lucas.
'Of course. Because today wasn't bad enough already.' Lucas thought painfully.
"So this is it, huh?" he muttered as the creatures prowled closer.
Lucas paused, his expression shifting into pure rage before he slowly mellowed out. He couldn't do anything about his situation, the only thing left was to suck it up and try his best to survive.
Crying and begging would accomplish nothing. A harsh situation was still just a situation. The only choice is to endure it.
"Alright then," he whispered through gritted teeth as the first wolf lept, "come and get it."