CHAPTER 10 Part 1: Our Way to Niru

--Sura’s POV--

[Shit!]

I raced, not wanting to look back, focused on the roots and rocks that could lead to my death, refusing the urge to use wind magic to fly through the hundred trees that obscured my vision and waste my mana, knowing that the one chasing me can easily knock the obstacles that block our path.

Tremors caused by the rampaging beast didn’t help my already restless heart making it harder to breathe. A loud roar came from behind, ringing into my ears causing me to lose my footing and roll into the dirt.

[Damn it! I almost made it to the trap…]

The bear, a B-class monster rushed to my location, claws stretched outward, drooling all over the place. I raised my arms trying protect my head, panicking too much to think clearly and unable to remember that I now wield magic.

“Earth Style: Capture mode”

Yuna came in the nick of time, beads of sweat rolling down on the side of her face.

The earth where I stood quaked violently as ruptures split the ground underneath the bear, but it was quick on its feet, leaping away from her spell, distancing itself from us.

“you okay~ Su-chan?”

“Yeah… thanks… Yu-chan.”

Yuna lend a hand that I was quick to accept, I stood and quickly summoned the wand I got as a gift, tearing the fabric of space, it glowed in many colors, a sound I couldn’t describe came from the dimensional rift as it opened wider, revealing the wand and dagger within.

I reached for the wand and quickly closed the tear in space to my right, not bothering to use the dagger, I’ve yet to know how to use.

“So it won’t be that easy huh?” Yuna smiled playfully, itching for a good fight.

Yuna and I stayed and distanced ourselves, avoiding a direct confrontation against the fanged beast. I conjured Sheer Cold, a B-tier spell capable of changing the environment around the caster, freezing everything in its path, it can encase a monster in a cage of ice if the caster is strong enough. The wand helped reduce the mana needed for my spell.

My spell raged forward towards the beast as Yu-chan cast another spell.

“Earth Style…. Sticky Hold? I’ll… improve the name later!”

Yuna began to blush from embarrassment, while the terrain around the bear quickly became muddy. Muddy Terrain is what I thought after seeing her spell in action.

[I’ll tell her about that later. For now, I have to focus.]

The bear struggled, unable to free itself from the mud that’s grabbing hold of its limbs, my spell finally reached the struggling beast, freezing both Yu-chan’s spell and its feet. The bear let out a pained grunt unable to free itself from both of our spells.

Thinking the battle was over, I slowly came closer to the beast, carefully minding where I stood, ready to kill it mercifully.

As I came close, the beast began to enlarge, muscles bulging, it grew 3 more meters, towering me even more. This time, it effortlessly freed itself, shattering the frozen mud that kept it stuck, swinging its paw at me, fooling both of us.

I immediately conjured Liquid Armor and Gale Wind keeping in mind the magic I am now able to wield. Liquid Armor and Gale Wind are defensive spells that act like Mana Armor that envelops and protects the caster but are significantly weaker than Mana Armor.

“Earth Style: Support mode”

As I prepare myself to get hit, a thick wall of mud quickly erected from the ground, slowing down the momentum of the attack. But even with our combined efforts, I was still sent flying, crashing into a tree. Thankfully the claws didn’t ripped my guts out.

Spewing out blood, I realized my stupidity.

I stayed stuck, now unable to move, both head and body aching. The beast now eyed Yuna knowing that I was out of commission, tootling towards her.

Then the beast froze, trembling from head to toe… or paw, terrified of the presence that walked slowly in our direction, knowing that even running away would be pointless at this point.

“I think that’s enough fun for today”

Tiffany walked towards us with menace. The earth tremored from each step she took, even the hair on my body stood. Her tattered robe swayed violently from the pressure of her mana, her straight black hair danced around her beautiful face and pointy ears.

She raised her right hand pointing at the frightened beast, her eyes looked at me for a moment and smiled softly then she looked back at the bear, her expression changed to a serious look as she cast her spell, her red lips half-opened.

“Ice Burn”

From her fingertips blue flames erupt, our surroundings became cold and hot, patches of ice and snow swirled around the patches of scorched earth, the beast went up in blue flames. Frostbite and snow evident on its furry body, the fire burns its fur and flesh as it wailed in pain.

Seconds later the beast dropped dead, I was amazed that with a single B tier spell she killed the beast in seconds, the spell she used was Ice Burn a combination spell of water and fire magic.

It was my first time seeing her in action, thankful that she was on our side and if I can at least be as strong as her… I won’t be scared, I won’t have sleepless nights worrying, terrified, not knowing if or when the people around me would die. One day… I’ll be strong.

“Hey brat, you, okay?” Tiffany said, running towards me

“ah~ not really… can you help me down please?” I winced from the pain

“Sure.” Tiffany smiled softly as she came to the tree I was stuck on and set me down.

I felt disappointed in myself, being fooled, and was rendered useless only seconds in battle. Frustrated that I was unable to defeat the Forest Bear, a 7-meter beast having sharp claws, thick fur to protect its back, and able to stand on its hind legs. Its fur was brown, having a muscular build and with spikes like gauntlets on its forelegs, it has intelligence something not common on lower-class monsters.

“Are you disappointed… that we couldn’t handle the bear?”

“Why would I? even Griffin would’ve died facing that alone at your age”

“Then… why did we even fight that thing if we never stood a chance?”

“Because I know that both of you are going to be far stronger than Griffin and Ophelia, maybe stronger than me...

“You both just need a little push…” Tiffany slowly looked at the frozen-burnt corpse, emphasizing her point.

“I’ll need to push both of you from now on. And don’t go near monsters if you are not sure they’re dead yet… higher class monsters are smart and would use every dirty trick in the book to fool even the most experienced adventurers.”

“Thank you very much for the advice” I said sincerely, while still holding my back.

Yuna came to both of us, head facing the ground, feeling the same way I did.

“I’m… going to be stronger I promise!” Yuna announced facing both Tiff and me, her eyes watery, yet unwavering.

“I know you are. Now let’s go back to the wagon and help me treat Sura’s wounds” Aunt Tiff softly smiled as she pats Yuna’s head.

“I’m sorry for causing trouble to both of you, I’ll do better next time I promise!” I said still feeling guilty and stupid, feeling the pain in my back.

“Su-chan are you alright? you crashed into that tree with so much force blood spewed from your mouth…” Concerned, Yuna asked as she lend me her shoulder

“My back really hurts…” I said honestly

We slowly trekked the forest going back to Luke and the wagon. Yuna treated my injuries inside the worn-out wagon while we continue our journey to Niru.

***

Almost 4 months have gone by since my birthday and the destruction of Gadvell and we are now close to the Kingdom of Niru, snow now melted under the grass, budding flowers, and trees, life now resuming as spring blossomed leaving winter behind, our clothes changed too, abandoning the layered clothes Tiffany, Yuna, and I was wearing.

As of now, everything was normal, the monsters that are supposed to be there were there, which reassured us that the shadow summonses haven’t gone to the west.

I remembered the Lygnicans that were supposed to be on the south part of the continent and reached Gadvell, we theorized that they were running from the shadow summonses that attacked both LouwenDale and Gadvell, coming from the southern part of the continent. We still didn’t know why they attack both places, but we knew that they first attacked LouwenDale before Gadvell, coming from the south which disturb the local wildlife…

[wait… so if they attacked from the south… so why was it that only the 2 Lygnicans seemed out of place? Did they kill the rest of the wildlife from the south?] I kept my emotions from surfacing as I wiped the sweat from the side of my face, now realizing how terrifying S+ class monsters really are.

Yuna was beside me still sleeping, leaning on each other, her head resting on my shoulder, Luke was guiding the horses in front, riding throughout the night, while Tiffany sat beside him wary of anything that could attack our already worn-out wagon.

I just woke up not too long ago, my back waking me up, now hurting as the effects of the herb treating it faded away, and now I’m wondering when the man from my dreams would show up again, looking at the dagger my dad left me.

I was able to put it in the same dimension as the gift Aishita-nee, Yu-chan, Ophelia-san, and mother gave me, storing the magical dagger my father left me and summoning it from time to time.

I summoned it the moment I couldn’t go back to sleep, reminiscing the past that I can no longer go back to.

[I swear dad… I’ll protect our family… I’ll get stronger.]

After almost 4 months of traveling Yuna and I got a lot closer and started shorting our names.

We took regular breaks during our trip, giving the horses time to rest.

The four of us had roles, Luke and Tiffany hunted for food and gathered water, putting it inside the waterskins Luke got from the small Village close to Gadvell. Yuna and I make tables, chairs, plates, and cups made of earth and stone. I taught Yuna how to cook properly, her mentioning that Ophelia was never a good cook and that she couldn’t teach Yuna cooking, reminiscing her time with Ophelia teaching her how every herb was used.

I’m not that great at cooking, just learned it when I started living alone in my old life, cooking only what’s easy, like frying chicken.

I was surprised when one day while enjoying our lunch Luke started telling dad jokes trying to brighten up the mood, I remembered one of his joke about why clerics are always calm because they have a lot of patients, I smiled awkwardly at his joke, Yuna blushed from embarrassment, telling Luke to stop making jokes already, while I saw Tiffany’s trembling body from the corner of my eye, her back facing us trying to hide her face. Luke smirked, proud of his witty joke and getting a reaction from the 3 of us. Since then, he occasionally tells a joke.

Tiffany would tell both Yuna and me from time to time to increase our mana pool by using magic that we felt comfortable with and continue using our mana, just like how Ophelia taught me.

I feel like I was comfortable using both water and wind so I trained every day trying to envelop my body with mana, while simultaneously trying to master Mana Armor. Green and bluish hue swirled around my arms trying to reach my shoulders but ultimately failed. Every day I do this and each time it fails, barely reaching my shoulders.

Yuna on the other hand always sat in the middle of the wagon, legs and arms crossed, back straight and eyes closed, rocks of different shapes and sizes floating around her. I remember her saying each time “Earth Style: Concentration mode” as she sat in the middle and struck her pose, I guess this is what she does whenever she concentrates.

Tiffany always told us that the flow of mana in our body was incorrect, which I never understood, she never explained what we were doing wrong, expecting us to learn and correct it ourselves.

Whenever we got time after lunch, Tiffany would tell us to come with her and hunt monsters for dinner, her way of training us both. I still recall the events that happened not too long ago, engraving the lesson I learned from encountering the B-class monster.

***