"How is there a wizard apprentice from the school with Lynn?!"
"A Zero-Ring Intermediate Body Lock spell! He's a Second-Rank Apprentice!"
"Egg, you stay and hold them off. I have to escape."
"We cannot expose the existence of the Great One!"
The mindlink between Dor and Ant made their communication far swifter than ordinary speech within an instant; the two had agreed on a plan.
Ant let out a roar, the green light in his eyes spreading from the corners outward, veins like leaf patterns racing across his face in the blink of an eye.
Swish!
He charged straight at Ido.
Meanwhile, Dor, having broken free from the Body Lock, took the opportunity to flee into the distance.
Ido's brow furrowed deeply. He was certain there was some astonishing secret behind all this.
"Your friend's yours to handle. I'll chase the other one!"
Swish!
Swish, swish!
Even as he spoke, several pulses of spell-light rippled across Ido's body.
"Zero-Ring Intermediate: Iron Armor!"
"Zero-Ring Basic: Nimble Steps!"
"Zero-Ring Intermediate: Haste!"
Like a breeze, Ido surged forward in pursuit of the fleeing Dor.
Lynn had no choice; he drew his longsword and rushed to meet Ant head-on.
"Out of my way!" Ant bellowed, striding forward as his right arm swelled grotesquely, transforming in an instant from a human limb into a massive hunk of flesh many times larger. At its end, five fingers sharpened like blades, gleaming with a cold light.
Bang!!
Instead of retreating, Lynn closed the gap, his left arm bending at the elbow like a spear and driving hard into Ant's chest.
Tap, tap, tap
Ant staggered back, a crescent-shaped sword-light flashing in his vision.
Slash
Blood sprayed from his right shoulder. The monstrous flesh-arm was nearly severed, hanging on by only a strip of sinew.
Ant howled in pain as the flesh at his shoulder writhed, knitting itself back together at an alarming rate.
Lynn's expression didn't change. He gripped his sword and prepared to press the attack.
But Ant suddenly fixed his gaze on him. His dark green eyes flew wide, so violently that the corners tore, beads of blood welling up alongside a tangible green glow spilling forth!
A wave of dizziness crashed over Lynn, forcing him to stumble back.
Ant seemed confident in this move; he didn't even glance at Lynn, immediately turning to dash toward Dor's direction.
The larva must not be discovered!
Yet he had barely taken two steps before a sharp whistle of air rushed from behind.
With a desperate roll, Ant narrowly avoided the incoming strike.
He got back to his feet, eyes full of disbelief.
Thinking of the inexplicable presence of a wizard apprentice with Lynn,
Ant seemed to understand.
He lifted his head, hollow and dazed, and rasped in a hoarse voice:
"You've already advanced to a wizard apprentice, Lynn?"
"That's right. I was just about to tell you the good news."
Lynn replied calmly, the meditative rune in his mind glowing softly as he stayed alert for any repeat of the earlier attack.
Ido had only asked him to keep Ant occupied, so Lynn didn't mind drawing the conversation out to safely buy time.
When Ant heard his confirmation, however, his expression grew increasingly vacant. At times his face was blank; at others, twisted. The green veins crawling across his skin writhed like earthworms.
The scene was both horrifying and grotesque.
"What exactly happened to you, Ant?"
Suddenly, Giggs's voice called out from not far away.
His wrists were bloodied and chafed, the marks clear evidence that breaking free from those ropes hadn't been easy.
Ant turned toward him, his dark green eyes full of confusion.
"What… exactly happened to me…"
A shadowy, tangled forest… an immense, terrifying yet beautiful creature… the sensation of sinking into a freezing, bottomless abyss…
When he opened his eyes again, he had already become like this.
"Egg, what are you doing? I need your help!"
Dor's voice roared through the mindlink.
Ant began to tremble violently.
Head lowered, he growled through clenched teeth, the sound thick with suppressed rage.
Drip.
Drip, drip
Blood dripped heavily from the corners of his eyes. His vision was a haze of crimson, yet, miraculously, the green light in his gaze began to contract and fade.
Though Giggs could no longer remember the exact details of the "Baptism," seeing Ant like this made him realize something. He shouted:
"That's it! Fight it! Resist it with your will!"
Ant panted harshly.
In a sudden moment, he jerked his head up, the green light in his eyes now barely visible.
The corner of his lips twisted into the faintest smile.
BOOM!!!
In the night sky not far away, a dazzling green light flared, followed by a deafening explosion.
Ant's pupils shrank sharply.
Larval Molt…? How could that be?
He looked at Lynn and Giggs, fear flickering in his eyes, but before he could explain,
a chilling, predatory presence descended upon him.
The faint green in his gaze surged back in an instant, more intense than ever.
Dor had abandoned his own body, unleashing a near-suicidal strike, and at the same time forced his true essence into the nearest host Ant.
"Ant!" Giggs shouted.
Lynn stood with sword in hand, catching the lingering green glow in the sky from the corner of his eye, a cold weight settling in his chest.
The blast had shaken the whole of Emeraldwood City.
From the north, several powerful auras rose into the air.
Right before him, Ant, or rather, Dor, paid no heed to Giggs's call. His face was icy, his steps swift as he closed in on the two of them.
Before any full-fledged wizard could arrive, he intended to erase the last two witnesses.
The Larval Molt's strike had power on par with the strongest Zero-Ring spells. Ido's survival chances were slim.
If he could also dispose of these two, the Great One's existence could still be covered up.
Swish!
Dor lunged for Lynn first!
"Giggs, run!"
Lynn retreated quickly with sword in hand, his voice cutting sharply through the air.
He had already judged that this "Ant" likely had more than one target, and Giggs staying here would serve no purpose. If anything, fleeing might help split "Ant's" attention.
Giggs reacted instantly. He clenched his teeth, gave Lynn one last glance, and without hesitation ran off at the fastest speed of his life.
The tactic worked. Dor snarled in frustration at Lynn, then suddenly wheeled around and charged after Giggs.
Lynn didn't go to help. Instead, he quickly withdrew in the opposite direction.
Sure enough, Dor's move was a feint. Moments later, he turned back and came after Lynn again.
His flesh churned and warped, and as he ran, his entire body transformed into a four-legged, fanged monstrosity of raw muscle and sinew. The skinless form glistened with wet gore, chunks of meat, and droplets of blood falling away as he moved.
In this shape, his speed increased sharply within seconds; he was on Lynn again.
Giggs, after all, was only human and couldn't run fast. Dor figured that if he finished Lynn quickly, there would still be time to catch Giggs. But if he kept after Giggs, Lynn might escape.
Realizing he couldn't outpace the creature, Lynn drew a deep breath, fixed his eyes on a nearby shack, and dove into it, curling his body as he crashed through.
Bang!
Inside, a man screamed in shock before he could even react, Lynn had burst through the far wall and was gone.
Roar!
The monster followed, bursting through the same hole, then tearing through the opposite wall in pursuit.
Crossing that second wall, Dor suddenly slowed. After those two brief moments with his view blocked, Lynn had disappeared.
Something occurred to him, and he turned to glance at the roof behind him, but he was already too late.
Lynn came down like a falling star, sword in hand, driving the blade straight through Dor's neck. The currents of air coiling around the weapon exploded outward, nearly severing his head entirely.
Yet Dor seemed unfazed by the grievous wound. The flesh at his neck writhed, sealing rapidly.
Sensing something wrong, Lynn pulled back immediately.
Then Dor's body flared with a searing green light from within, and a burst of emerald radiance exploded right in Lynn's face.
He had time to clamp his eyes shut, but still felt his mind reel.
Thanks to the meditative rune, his newly gained status as an apprentice wizard allowed him some resistance to mental assaults, but only to a point. Ant's attacks barely affected him, but this was different: Dor was a larva, and his mental strike was far harder to ward off.
Still, unleashing such an attack after undergoing Molt came at a price.
Dor's movements grew sluggish, great slabs of flesh dropping from his body.
It was worth it, though, or so he thought.
Panting, Dor turned toward the motionless Lynn, ready to finish him.
But then the flesh on his back bulged and shifted, forming Ant's face.
The instant the visage took shape, Dor's movements faltered, as though meeting some unseen resistance.
"Egg, what are you doing?!" Dor snarled, struggling to force his body forward.
Each time he managed a step, Ant forced him back by one.
In those brief seconds of stalemate, Lynn recovered.
On Dor's back, Ant sensed it. He opened his eyes and rasped:
"The larva has no physical weak point… but the Egg does. The Egg's weakness is its core… destroy it, Lynn!"
As he spoke, a pale green, cyst-like sphere emerged at Ant's brow.
"No... no! You can't do this!" Dor screamed in panic, fighting desperately for control.
The sphere dipped out of sight, then surged back up the next moment.
Blood welled from Ant's eye corners. He fixed Lynn with a hoarse whisper:
"Do it!"
Slash!
The pale green core was shredded by Lynn's blade and the currents swirling around it.
He withdrew the sword, watching in silence as the monster before him toppled slowly to the ground.
On its back, Ant's lips still moved. Lynn leaned closer.
"I didn't… I didn't hang myself…"
The words were fragmented, almost nonsensical, yet Lynn understood. He met Ant's gaze and said solemnly:
"I know. You didn't hang yourself, Ant. You never took the coward's way out…"
A faint, fleeting smile touched Ant's lips. His pupils dulled, and his life slipped away.
Lynn rose without a word.
Above, several figures streaked through the sky, one descending toward him.
A Second-Rank apprentice wizard from one of the Orders, badly injured… perhaps even dead…
Drawing a deep breath, Lynn glanced at the faint green glow still lingering far off in the distance, knowing full well:
The Hossens Wizarding Domain… is about to be thrown into chaos.
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