Unorthodox (Part 1)

Finn clasped his filthy hands together, happy to finally reach an understanding.

"Well, first you have to collect the materials while I prepare the repellant and perfume."

He showed Mikael how to harvest the organs then went off somewhere to do his chemistry experiments.

"Did you get that, kid?" Mikael asked Deon through direct messaging.

"Uhh…Yes?"

"Good. Then, YOU do it."

"WHAT?!" Deon exclaimed, he thought Mikael would be the one to harvest since he was the one eager to help Finn.

"What do you mean 'What'? of course you have to do it since Full integration costs too much MP per minute."

"But…I'm a prince! How could you tell me to butcher monster corpses?"

"Right. You're a prince and I'm a spirit so it's obvious who should do the work."

In the end, Deon lost the argument.

"You're so unfair, Sir Mikael…" he grumbled after returning to his own body.

Deon heaved at the pungent smell and the grotesque sight.

His hand that held Finn's dagger quivered.

He was squeamish, but Mikael brutally reminded him, "You know you'll end up like that if you remain weak, right?"

Deon peered at the ant's carcass, imagining himself in its place. He shuddered at the prospect, but he also realized that, given his current strength, it was entirely feasible.

'Right… I promised myself that I will become the strongest…' Deon took a deep breath and firmly grasped the blade's hilt, 'I should take this as part of my growth.'

He stabbed the monster's rotting abdomen. Dark green blood spilled to the ground.

For several hours, Deon did nothing but to butcher dead ants, and as time passed, he grew accustomed to the work.

Finn looked over his shoulder and smiled at Deon's figure.

'I guess he can really do a good job if he puts his mind into it.' He chuckled.

'But why doesn't he remove that stuffy helmet?' He wondered before coming to a realization all by himself, 'AH! Is he ashamed of his face? Maybe he's too ugly? Then again, when compared to me, everyone in this continent looks like squids…' Finn went back to stirring a pot-full of potion and adjusting the flame below a flask of distilling pheromone perfume.

At night, the two of them ate a sumptuous feast prepared by Finn around a campfire. They talked about the strategy, Finn's lectures on monster behavior, and his obsession with Almageia.

The Midden was suddenly filled with laughter. With life. It was an ironic sight—he was surrounded by the dead yet Deon felt more alive than he had surrounded by the living.

Despite his masochistic tendencies, Finn was friendly and fun to be with. He never ran out of stories to tell.

Come morning, Deon and Mikael had already considered him a friend.

"It's finished! Hahaha! I really am so very great!" Finn patted himself on the back for a job well done. He had successfully produced an ant repellant and pheromone perfume.

"It is regretful that you cannot teach me the teleportation spell…" He handed Deon the perfume, "Nevertheless, I trust that you will have my back, Sir Deon!"

"Of course. Leave it to me." Deon received the perfume bottle and stared at the Midden's entrance.

After bathing themselves in their respective potions and gearing up, Deon, Mikael, and Finn stepped out of the ant cemetery.

"Remember our plan." Finn reminded Deon.

Deon briefly nodded, carefully trudging along the narrow tunnels with his spear at hand.

Meanwhile, Mikael served as reconnaissance.

"The coast is clear!" he voiced to Deon at every fork on the road

After several minutes, they encountered their first group of monsters.

"Food… the… fo..od…is..wander…ing…" the ant's antennae twitched and sent its thoughts to the rest of the ants.

Mikael swooped into the gloom. There was a total of nine Killer ants queuing in the tunnel up ahead.

"Oh, Sh*t! looks like we attracted too much!" Mikael cursed. Fighting one killer ant had been deadly enough, but now they had to fight three-against-nine?

However, something was different about this group compared to the one they fought yesterday. If the ones before had abnormally large heads and equally large mandibles, the ants now had noticeably smaller heads and less threatening jaws.

However, the fact that they were outnumbered still remained.

"FIRST WAVE, INCOMIIING! NINE ENEMIES SIGHTED!" Mikael warned Deon who tensed in a defensive stance in return.

"Sir Finn! nine ants are coming this way!" Deon quickly relayed the information to Finn.

"Okay!" Finn brought out a 13-inch wooden brush. It had a hollowed cylindrical body called the barrel which was made of Magusteen wood—a special tree known for having the highest mana conductance—and a grip made of a mana insulating material

Finn loaded a vial of blood ink into the cartridge inside the barrel. After hearing the tell-tale snap that ensured that the blood ink was now flowing to its bristles, Finn brandished the brush like a wand.

A moment later, the group of ants appeared. Their matte black exoskeleton hampered Deon's accuracy to grasp their positions in the dark tunnel.

It would've been easy for these monsters to kill, undetected, if it hadn't been for Mikael's scouting.

Deon jumped into the fray, buying time for Finn to draw his mana circle.

Fortunately, the terrain played to his advantage.

Due to the narrow tunnel, only three Killer ants could attack him simultaneously while the other six could only sit back to wait for their turn.

He slashed.

He stabbed.

He did not mind even when his attacks uselessly clanked against their tough carapace. Killing them was not his task—stalling them was.

Throughout the fight, he continued his hit-and-run tactic. Relying on Mikael to cover his unprotected side with the Psychokinesis skill.

'Isn't he done yet?' he nervously glanced over Finn's direction.

Finn was loading yet another vial of blood into his brush, in front of him was a floating red mana circle with an incomplete configuration.

"WHAT?! Why is he so slow?!" Mikael complained to Deon, probably asking whether this casting speed was considered 'Normal'.

But Finn was indeed too slow by combat Almagi standards. Deon had never known any Almagi to run out of blood ink on their first attack spell.

However, he soon understood why Finn replaced his ink.

Finn resumed drawing the mana circle but instead of red, white glyphs filled the blank spaces—the characteristic color of wind element.

Deon gaped at the unorthodox circle. He knew from his limited Alamagi knowledge that Mana circles drawn using blood ink meant for a different element were bound to malfunction. That is, a faulty spell will backfire to its caster.

He had seen one too many promising Almagi lose their lives because of spell malfunctions. As such, very few Almagi deliberately played with mana circle configurations—the risk was just too high.

Finn saw Deon's horror-struck face and smirked, "I'm ready."

Deon grimly nodded. Now was not the time to question Finn's unconventional combat style.

He hurriedly called Mikael, "Sir Mikael! Teleport!"

"I know!"

Mikael partially integrated with Deon and activated his teleportation skill.

Deon reappeared behind Finn just in time as he shouted, "FIRE BURST!"

--Chapter end—

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Disclaimer: Finn is NOT a sexual masochist. He is a MORAL masochist (a nonsexual form of masochism). His masochism manifests in over-working himself and going beyond his limits.

Finn doesn't like physical pain because he thinks his blood is too precious. Instead, he likes psychological pain (Like being commanded to do things with an authoritative voice.)

There are many types of masochism.

In Jens Zimmermann's Hermeneutic: A Very Short Introduction (2015), it states that the ability to learn becomes internalized and is expressed in new ways. In simple terms, moral masochists learn their boundaries and push past them (that's very 'Plus Ultra', right? *wink*) to increase their tolerance.

That is, they deal with frustration to develop coping mechanisms for future frustration.

Here's a citation from the source:

"Bion is concerned with the capacity to suffer because he recognizes the connection

that exists between pain and growth" To reiterate the connection between this

'capacity to suffer,' as a way to grow points to the reasoning why one would self inflict frustration through moral masochism.