Chapter 14
AFTER DEPARTING from Lunatic Lake, passing through the grasslands to the southeast and the forest beyond, the FAV finally began to climb the mountains. Garrett stomped the accelerator to the floor and clung to the steering wheel as he white-knuckled through the trackless terrain. As the vehicle bounced and rattled, the two privates didn’t say a peep. They just clung to the motionless Dark Knight and tried to endure as the FAV picked its way up the mountainside.
The entrance to the Raggett Copper Mine was marked by abandoned huts and overgrown vegetation that showed how long the mine had been closed. The two young soldiers stared into the gaping black maw of the mine shaft, silent and trembling. Behind them, the Dark Knight stood ever vigilant.
“We know what we’re after?” Garrett called out to the pair as he finished locking up the FAV.
“Sir, yes, sir!” they responded in unison.
“And we’ve got our mining gear?”
“Yes, sir! Fully prepared!”
The hunt for Firefly Ore was on. It glowed like a red flame when exposed to air, but only for twelve hours after it was mined. Once it lost potency, it would no longer open the third level of the Fools’ Wunderkammer. Therefore, it had to be mined only when it was required.
“There haven’t been any reports of monsters in the vicinity, but there’ve been a lot of strange happenings recently. Keep your eyes peeled while you work.”
“Yes, sir! Always watchful and vigilant!”
This was the privates’ first mission, and it was clear that they were nervous. Unseen monsters aside, their anxiety also stemmed from their commanding officer. Garrett was the Vice Commander of the Alcait Mobile Armored Division, and he vastly outranked them. To make matters worse, he was acting like rank didn’t matter.
Look at them, so worked up over their first mission. Was I ever like that? he mused as he proceeded into the mine shaft. “Off we go!”
***
With the mine clear of monsters, nothing hindered their search. Garrett’s team soon obtained the Firefly Ore without incident, and they turned to leave the caverns in high spirits.
Suddenly, a quick wind blew around them, and a black shadow raced past from their rear. The Dark Knight had passed them by, moving at tremendous speed. Garrett and the soldiers looked at each other in confusion before they realized that only one thing would have made it move like that. It was their protection detail, after all.
Calming their racing hearts, the three men grabbed their weapons and faced the direction the knight had run off to. Just beyond the entrance to the mine, the Dark Knight was facing off against a giant beast that was trampling over the thick vegetation.
Garrett gasped as he identified the foe. “Th-that’s a beast fiend!”
More specifically, it was an Arcus Grage, a bearlike beast that dwarfed the FAV. Unlike most monsters, which spawned almost spontaneously, fiends were wild animals that had been corrupted by evil. Though uncommon, they were incredibly dangerous and difficult opponents. None of the soldiers were particularly skilled at dismounted combat, and this was a major threat.
The great, black Arcus Grage roared and then charged the Dark Knight. With a gaping mouth filled with reddish-black fangs, it moved far faster than its bulk should allow. An instant later, it lunged for the knight’s neck.
With the beast upon it, the knight brought up its black greatsword with a fierce thrust and stabbed at the chin of the fiend. A high-pitched sound rang out as the sharp fangs dragged across the mighty sword and the two unnaturally strong combatants struggled for dominance.
But a moment later, there came a terrifying metallic sound. The Arcus Grage had locked the knight’s sword in its jaws, then slashed out with its vicious claws to attack the summon’s torso. Both the summon’s legs stood planted to the ground, but the spirit was stock-still. As the soldiers looked on helplessly, the fiend trampled the remains of the knight and then lunged at them.
Garrett couldn’t believe what he just saw. He’d traveled with Mira. He knew what her Dark Knights were capable of. But he also knew his men were in imminent danger. Without hesitating, he shouted orders. “Fall back into the mine! Hurry!”
They wouldn’t stand a chance going head-to-head against a foe that could destroy a Dark Knight, but luckily for them, the mine tunnel was too narrow for the Arcus Grage to travel through. If they could make it there, they could avoid the worst. It was their only option.
Turning away from the fiend, Garrett rallied the two young soldiers and spurred them to run. Screaming in panic, they took off toward the mine shaft, just several meters away.
The fiend closed the gap in an instant, and they could hear and feel its slavering breath behind them.
***
Meanwhile, in the dining room at the Palace of Alcait…
“Hng…?!”
While chatting with her two closest friends after her overindulgence, Mira suddenly felt something and shot to her feet.
“What is it?” Solomon asked, confused by the strange mood that seemed to have gripped her.
“I feel like…” Slowly closing her eyes, she looked skyward as though seeing something not meant to be seen. “It can’t be! Right now?!”
“Wh-What’s going on?!”
“It’s a big one!”
Her eyes shot open, and with that, she took off at a sprint toward the restroom.
“It’s been thirty years since we last did that. Takes me back.” Solomon chuckled contentedly and sank back in his chair as he watched her disappear. “How big can it be for someone that small, anyway?”
“How many of those little back-and-forths do the two of you have?” Luminaria asked, looking disgusted but also slightly amused.
Solomon thought for a moment, then he smiled.
“No idea.”
***
Back at the Raggett Copper Mine…
The labored breath of the fiend washed over Garrett, and the beast’s savage snarl promised only death. As terror gripped him, he made sure that his men made it into the mine shaft first. Watching them disappear ahead of him, he smiled in relief. But as the reddish-black fangs of the Arcus Grage closed in on his back, his imminent demise was unavoidable.
“Hold yer horses, beastie!”
A high-pitched feminine voice rang out from nowhere, accompanied by a dull thud and a loud groan. The grip of terror slipped away, and Garrett turned in disbelief. Feelings of security and protection washed over him—the same sensations he experienced in Mira’s presence.
“But how did she…?” he muttered as a girl flipped down from the treetops.
It wasn’t Mira, that was for sure.
The newcomer had a Chinese flair about her, dressed in a cheongsam with a high collar and slits up the sides. The vivid colors of her dress made it look more suitable for a fancy dress-up party than a fight, and it was accentuated by her hair, which was done up in loops on both sides of her head.
And yet, her poise and grace brought Garrett an indescribable sense of relief, even though they were still on a battlefield.
“I’ve been searchin’ for that beastie for quite some time! You can have any loot, but I wanna take it down!” she said in her distinctive accent, hands clasped together and eyes blazing as she pleaded with Garrett.
In the distance, the Arcus Grage sluggishly picked itself up from the ground and tried to shake off its daze.
“Have at it,” Garrett said immediately.
He didn’t know how she did it, but he was sold on the girl’s unshakable confidence. Besides, the monster had taken a hit he couldn’t possibly hope to equal.
“Oho! Much thanks!” Her face shone with joy, and after a flicker of movement, she was nose-to-nose with the beast.
“Wait, was that…?” Garrett watched as the girl struck out at the fiend with an explosive move.
[Immortal Arts Movement: Shrinking Earth]
This girl was a sage.
The fierce explosion was accompanied by a deafening roar. She was stronger than Garrett could’ve ever imagined. Though the fiend momentarily staggered after her powerful kick, it quickly reared up on its hind legs and swatted back at the girl with a massive forelimb. The Arcus Grage’s claws sliced through the air, but they came to a stop before finding their prey.
Her hand rested gently on the beast’s paw. Despite her small stature, her power was overwhelming, and the fiend quickly realized it was outclassed. It turned back to Garrett and charged with explosive power, its red eyes locked on the Vice Commander. The beast seemed determined to get a kill before its inevitable defeat.
“Captain Garrett!” one of the privates called out in panic, but he didn’t move.
More precisely, he didn’t have to. The girl in the cheongsam was already in front of him, as if she’d appeared by magic. The fiend panicked, but a body of that size could not be brought to a halt on such short notice. It tried to leap to avoid the girl.
“Too easy, yeah!” She reached out and clenched her fist, stopping the beast in midair.
Garrett could scarcely believe his eyes. Fist still raised, she stared at the fiend with a wide-eyed, manic grin. Then flames covered the sky.
The expanding shockwave shook the earth, the trees, and even the air itself. Then the wind carried away the sparks as the burst of flame dissipated. The black miasma that had grasped the area disappeared as peace and serenity returned. Soon, the sounds of birdsong and insects chirping filled the air once more.
“He wasn’t even that tough…” she muttered in disappointment as she stared at the fiend’s charred remains.
“Thanks for the assist,” Garrett said, but she just looked at him quizzically.
“What d’ya mean?”
“Oh, um… Very well done.” Taking her reaction as humility, he rephrased his statement. But a moment later, he realized she was serious in her question.
“It was nothing. But that knight might be a challenge, yeah?” She looked over Garrett’s shoulder and back to him, ready to throw down. “Definitely a better training buddy than that fiend. I’d like to fight with him.”
That didn’t make sense. The only things behind him were the entrance to the mine and the privates who had fled into it. He wouldn’t describe either of them as a “knight,” and they certainly wouldn’t fare well while going a round with the mysterious sage girl. Then he turned to find the Dark Knight standing there without so much as a scratch on it.
This Dark Knight, summoned to be their escort, had used its inherent mana stores to rebuild itself after it was shattered. Perhaps the armor spirit had been the one to knock the beast away from his back, after all? His appreciation for Mira’s skill continued to grow, even when she wasn’t around.
“Oh. This knight is currently on loan to us as an escort and I don’t have the authority to loan it out for sparring. Terribly sorry,” Garrett said, bowing to the girl.
“Bummer,” she muttered, head drooping in disappointment. From the way she kept glancing at the Dark Knight, it was clear she hadn’t written off the idea entirely. “You aren’t the summoner, then, yeah?”
“If you’re curious about its master, head to Lunatic Lake. That’s where you’ll find the person who summoned this Dark Knight.” Garrett felt he owed her a debt of gratitude, in any case.
“Lunatic Lake, huh? Nah. Still too early for that, yeah. But maybe someday!”
Then, as if she had tired of the conversation, the girl leapt skyward and disappeared into the forest canopy.
The three soldiers stood grateful, yet completely bewildered.
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