8 Fateful Encounter

With their breakfast finished, Shynerai gave Vaceris her privacy to change while he took the time to bathe in the waterfall.

When she was done, the two began packing up their things so that they could leave.

As he puts out the campfire before they leave, Vaceris tells him that she is going to be doing a bit of recon and that she'll find him up ahead.

Shynerai agrees and tells her that he'll be heading deeper into the forest because there's a good chance that they might stumble upon a bunch of monsters or even demons that they can harvest for the 'mind core'.

(Shynerai looks up to her as she rises into the sky...before vanishing in a torrent of Wind)

He heads north into the forest for several hours until she returns and they continue on their trip. As the pair continue to walk, they come across what looks to be a fairly large stream flowing down the path.

"If there are any monsters around, they have to be drinking from wherever this stream leads" Shynerai exclaims as they follow the stream.

Around 14:00 they decide to stop and rest under the shade of a large tree on top of a shallow cliff that overlooked the river that stream which they had been following now fed into.

After 15 minutes passed and the two were done taking a break, they continued with their journey.

By nightfall, they had already covered 67km.

They stopped near a large tree with bamboo growing nearby and decided to make their camp there. Due to the danger of building their camp in such an open area, they decided to sleep in makeshift overhanging canopies far above the forest floor. While Vaceris built the canopies, Shynerai gathered firewood and water.

When the canopies were finished and the campfire was flaring, Shynerai filled his canister with water that had been boiling over the fire and again took it upon himself to find food for dinner and possibly for the next day's breakfast.

Sadly, just like yesterday, Vaceris wasn't willing to help him...this time opting to stay and guard the camp, though her reasons for refusing to help him this time were not the same as before.

Because of the initiative he showed when it came to the survival of not just himself but of their team despite how unruly she might have been in the beginning, he ended up inspiring her to do the same so...while Shynerai was out looking for food, she decided that she going to spend her time in the camp: In search of any Elemental demons/beasts in the area that could possess a Mind Core.

She thought that if she could fight a bunch of Elemental monsters nearby then they wouldn't have to spend the entire second day looking for one and they can instead use the remaining time to look for a way back to Trinity Cross Academy.

As she sat in front of the campfire, she moved into a meditative posture with her back straight and her legs crossed and began focusing on her magical energy.

While maintaining her concentration, she started pushing the focus of her magic outwards to encompass the surrounding area.

Her body began emanating ethereal wisps that started flowing around her before moving away from her and spreading all around the forest...allowing Vaceris to detect and locate any living creatures that were near the wisps.

As her searched went on for some time, she eventually decided that it would be best if she went to rest so that she could continue the search early in the morning considering that she wasn't having much luck, but before she stopped her search, her Wind Magic managed to detect a group of Elemental monsters only a few kilometres west from their camp.

They were six Aggressors with another monster among them giving off the silhouette of a vessel for a Mind Core.

Vaceris gleamed with excitement at the prospect of having found the Mind Core.

She then tried even harder to make out the appearance of the mysterious beast but...this ended up backfiring.

Due to a massive spike in her magical energy that was caused by her momentary excitement, she managed to alert the Aggressors… who ended up noticing the wisps and seemingly understood that they were not natural.

With the Aggressors now frantically attacking the wisps, Vaceris realized that she had to prepare herself for the prospect of having to fight the beasts since there was a strong possibility that they might end up following the wisps back to her…

Shynerai was making his way through the forest in search of food, when he noticed that the river they stopped at for lunch earlier on during the day had led out into another stream that travelled in this direction.

He decided to take the opportunity to get himself clean while also looking for some fish, though this time he only managed a large sum of freshwater crabs. After drying himself off and getting back into his clothes, he left the stream and continued his search for more food, this time looking for delicious fruits and roots that could pair well with the rest of the meal.

His midnight shopping trip reminding him of the time he spent training away from the homestead when Shadow wasn't around.

Since he didn't have any food, he was forced to find some.

Which quickly made him adept at knowing what was safe to eat in the wild.

The time he spent with Shadow also made him an incredible cook, considering for most of the seven years they were together, cooking was almost always a chore that was left to him.

He continued to daydream about the time he spent training as he went around picking berries and taking apart edible roots.

Ten minutes went by and finally, Shynerai was satisfied with his haul considering that the woven basket was now full, so he decided to indulge himself on a few berries before heading back to camp.

But the sudden appearance of a bitter and chilling breeze that was strong to knock him down brought a sense of worry to him, so he abandoned his self-indulgence and hasten his way back to the camp.

He soon realized that the bitter chill was coming from what seemed to be a battle that was happening in the same direction as their camp, since the closer he got, the stronger the winds became and the colder and sharper they felt…until a sudden and painful cry erupted from the maelstrom ahead of him.

The possibility of said cry having come from the camp and the guilt of having abandoned Vaceris to guard the camp while he was busy daydreaming and splashing around in the stream weighed heavily on him until the strain was too much for him to bear and so he cast aside the basket and canister he had been carrying and started racing back to the camp.

As he made his way back to the camp, the clarity of the cries increased which caused the horrors of the Glynnfoldt Massacre to resurface as terrible flashes.

Ignoring the pain of the ingrained horrors, he tried desperately to push on, only for him to be met with a sight that brought both confusion and relief to him.

When he arrived, Shynerai saw what seemed like a brawl between Vaceris and unbelievably enough, enormous horned serpents.

To be more accurate, what seemed like three corpses already laid dead in front of her, all with what seemed like a thousand wounds from a blade.

Shynerai's panic began subsiding, the image of what exactly these creatures were finally clicked in his head.

"Venom Aggressors…but why are they here?" he said starring at the corpses before being pulled back into reality as a Bronze Aggressor tried to bite him...fortunately he managed to avoid it.

He could easily tell it apart from the corpses on the ground and he knew it far more dangerous.

A Bronze Aggressor stood at 10m tall, with the ability to breathe a poisonous fog onto its victims as well as secrete a venomous toxin from its fangs.

The beast had four horns that formed a crown protruding from its skull with a cape that resembles its Cobra cousins.

As he regained his composure, he turned to face these beasts,

"Beowulf": he called, and a swirl of white light spiralled around him, forming and shaping the beastly bracers, then the greaves, and finally the cowl.

The beasts again attempted to strike at him with its whip-like tail.

Noticing the incoming attack, he jumped clear of the tail, then found his footing and launched himself at the beast…striking it and landing a direct hit on its head.

Though the beast intentionally tanked the hit as Shynerai was about to learn something else about the Bronze Aggressors.

"What…metal?"

Shynerai murmured as his fist made contact with the skull of the beast that was seemingly coated in what looked like…well, Bronze.

The beast used Shynerai's lack of footing from his failed assault to send him flying midair.

After slamming through a few trees, he finally came to a halt.

Brushing off the falling bark and broken branches, he got onto his feet and started planning his approach…when moments later the beast launches itself at him with venom-ridden jaws and again he manages to avoid it, though not completely...

This time the Aggressor restrains him with its tail...readying its venom to once again take a bite out of him but he manages to loosen its grip long enough to escape.

Using the opportunity to put some distance between him and the creature.

Once he found a growth to rest behind, he took the time to come up with a plan as the beast slithered around the forest in search of its prey.

Because of the massive stamina consumption of most Words of Power, fighting long, drawn-out battles is not one of his best attributes.

Choosing to hide and observe the beast that searched for him...he noticed something interesting.

As another blast of chilled wind blew past Shynerai, he knew that he would have to make it back to the camp to help out Vaceris, so the young man got to his feet and shouted once more...

"Beowulf"

And just as suddenly, a blinding white flash erupted from the trees.

Despite the beast having sighted it, it was simply moving too fast for the creature to react.

As the light thundered past trees and shrubberies as though a lightning bolt had been let loose into the forest, and its target was the beast.

The creature in its anticipation of an attack attempted to armour itself...but sadly such a response was met in futility as the lightning-clad Shynerai came soaring out of the trees and threw a devastating punch at the beast...but not at its head, instead, by its belly.

His fist tore through its entrails and ripped it open before launching the behemoth into a nearby clearing with the force of the shockwave.

As he followed the beast's flight through the trees and finds it lying in the clearing, he removes the incantation…and with the last of the golden flames and vibrating lightning disappearing from his body; he remarked whilst panting heavily:

"You hid your belly…(deep inhale)…because you knew that your armour only covers your scales".

After taking a minute to recover and ensuring that the beast was defeated. He set off for the camp.

When he made it back and found that the battle still wasn't falling to either one's side, but considering the trouble he was having with the Bronze Aggressor, it made sense why her battle was taking even longer…after all, she was fighting something much worse...

A Steel Aggressor.

The battle between was fierce with the Steel Aggressor breathing intense flames onto Vaceris in an attempt to reduce her to nothing but cinders and her in turn, snuffing out the flames with the boreal whirlwinds that she commanded.

Shynerai decides to intervene, and once against dons the thundering armour of Beowulf before launching himself at the flame-spewing beast and drop-kicking it in the face, managing to knock it back into the ground forming a crater around the impact.

The Aggressor's flames covered the area around him but Vaceris extinguishes them while she questions him as to what took him so long and he explains why couldn't rush to her and help.

Despite understanding his reasons, she still teased him by pointing out that impact-type attacks won't do damage against its armoured scales.

"I know, but its belly is still vulnerable against most attack": he responded whilst being a bit annoyed at her patronizing statement.

(She tries to mask her laughter)

"Ok ok, no need to get all pissy. Look, if I can get rid of its flames, will that be enough time for you to put in a finishing blow?".

Erai's expression changed from annoyance to determination as he responds:

"I can", turning to face the enemy in front of them.

"Good, because we strike…now", she tells Erai before flying towards the rising beast...narrowly avoiding a strike from its tail.

Landing in front of it as she knocks it back with a massive gust of wind; putting it off balance...causing the emerging dark flames to merely bubble in the creature's maw.

"Now" she yells, to alert Erai.

Once more the thundering golden flash erupts from within the forest and launching itself at the beast.

The creature tries to avoid the coming attack by slamming Vaceris into him using its tail, seeing its tail flailed towards her, she lunges herself forward, shifting the beast's focus from the incoming streak of lightning...to try to attempt to savagely devour her.

Using what's left of her magic, she manages to soar upwards into the night sky.

Creating the perfect opportunity as the creature had now exposed its entire belly in its attempt to chase her…making for an easy target for Erai.

With that, he pierced the gut and disembowelled the beast...sending the corpse flying into the bamboo growth nearby. With the corpse now impaled with the hundreds of green spears, the creature's fire finally turned cold.

Shynerai turns off the incantation, and waves to the airborne Vaceris, who takes a look at the bamboo growth spotting the dead beast.

Relieved at their victory, she accidentally loses the focus of her magical energy, causing her to fall back down.

Despite expecting to make for one painful landing, when she opens her eyes, she was shocked to find herself in the arms of Erai who casually grins as he asked her:

"Do you always get distracted?".

The embarrassed Vaceris leaps out of his arms as she yells at him in a hilarious effort to explain herself which only serves to make Erai hide his obvious laughter:

"I didn't lose focus…..I'm just exhausted from all the magic is used", she said all the while trying to bear a scowl on her flustered face.

Having had his fun, he said that they should head back to camp and get some rest, but an irritated Vaceris stops him, stating that they should first extract the Mind Core from the Steel Aggressor before they can rest up.

So the two made their way to the corpse to retrieve the Mind core...

When out of nowhere, an unexpected enemy shows its face.

While the two were walking away and Vaceris continued to berates Erai...another Bronze Aggressor, snuck out from the nearby trees and ambushed the two with its poisonous fog but since she was almost out of magic and he didn't have enough time to don the Beowulf armour and stop the attack…Erai opted for a different and plan, and… at that moment they were hit with the attack.

Though strangely enough as Vaceris looked around she could tell that the poison had surrounded her…but it wasn't touching or even coming near her.

She tried to look around the 'bubble' for Erai but the haze was far too thick, though she did hear him grunting as well the beast's screeches.

As the battle of voices raged on for several minutes, she was suddenly taken aback by the shriek that came from Erai, which was followed by the loudest screech so far, from the beast before a shockwave erupted from the ground as though the beast had crashed into it.

The haze slowly started to clear at the behest of the force from the impact, revealing the outline of a standing figure.

It was Erai…and somehow the shape at his feet was the dead Aggressor.

As soon as the haze dissipated, the protective bubble vanished as well and she ran over to Erai to ask him what had happened... but he fell onto her, lucky for him, she manages to catch him in her arms and rests him on the ground.

She asks him what happened and what was wrong with him.

He told her that there wasn't enough time for him to gear up and stop the beast from attacking, so all he could in that split second moment, was trying to protect both of them, but when it came down to it there was only enough time to protect one, so he chooses to protect her.

"I used an incantation called: Wall of Jericho. It lets me cast a barrier around my target that lasts as long as I'm conscious, but it, unfortunately, it has the drawback of not protecting the caster… so yeah".

"Ok…that explains the 'bubble' but not why didn't you use your Beowulf armour after you had saved me?" she asked him as her face changed to harbor a worried and saddened expression.

"Oh…I guess probably because, I don't know how to use two incantations at the same time", he said to her with a cheerful smile as a way of comforting her, but his smile quickly becomes warped with pain when the venom from the bite he received on his shoulder becomes agitated.

It doesn't work out as she realizes that Erai protecting her was the reason he got hurt, even if he tries to hide it.

Two individuals descend from their hidings in the nearby trees and make their way towards the wounded duo, an entire wave of confusion and questions would soon wash over both of them.

The two made their way towards Vaceris and Erai, with the wounded Erai glimpsing sight of them, and warning Vaceris to quickly run as fast as she could be in danger.

Her hesitation was quickly diffused as she began hearing their footsteps, she finally decided to listen to Erai and as she was about to stand, a familiar voice froze her in place:

"So is this the part where you run and abandon your team?"

As the figures approach, Vaceris turns to them with the singular thought of whom might that voice belong to stops her from escaping.

When she sees the person's stature, as well as the sight of opal and gold-coloured piece of fabric through their cloaks…as well as his voice, she knew whom she was dealing with.

"What are you doing here Vauntuss?"