The Unorthodox Alchemist
Vesiro woke up with sweat drenching his back. He was gasping for air after waking up from that horrible nightmare.
He looked at his hands and saw that they were the same wounds that he had earlier. He clenched both hands into fists. "That wasn't a dream.. but then, why am I still alive?"
Vesiro looked around and saw that there was a campfire nearby. There were also neatly cut logs to serve as seats. He was laying down on a cut wooden log earlier.
"What happened to me?" Vesiro saw that his armor and sword was neatly stacked next to him.
He put on his armor and prepared to leave.
Suddenly, there was a figure of a man coming out from the shadows holding a bunch of branches. When the man saw Vesiro, he was pleasantly surprised.
"Hey you, you're finally awake.. Rest here since you still need your energy." The man sat down and threw all the branches into the campfire. He then grabbed the cauldron next to him and filled it up with water using a water dispenser.
He twisted the faucet and water slowly filled the cauldron. "Stay here, I'm cooking wild rabbits."
Vesiro looked at the man warily. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"
"Tylo... Chrysos Tylo. You can call me that." Chrysos put some vegetables and spices into the cauldron and used four rocks to create a small area where he could place the metal cauldron without putting out the fire.
Using a metal rod, he slowly adjusted the branches to cook the soup.
"Well then mister Tylo, what are you doing here in the iron mountain range?" Vesiro didn't sit down. He was still vigilant towards him.
"Collecting ingredients... I'm an alchemist so I have to do so." Chrysos replied without even looking at Vesiro. He was making sure that the soup was being cooked well.
Vesiro was stunned.
"An alchemist out here in a dangerous place? How are you still alive?" Vesiro couldn't believe it. "Tell me, are you really an alchemist?'
Chrysos sighed and released his Divinium.
He used his unique ability to refine a mushroom from the ground. The mushroom turned from a brown capped mushroom into a beautiful shade of gold.
Vesiro was surprised.
"So you're really an alchemist?"
Chrysos groaned. "Are you this stupid? If you can't even figure out a person's class even after showing their unique ability, you must really be lacking in knowledge." Chrysos said in an insulting tone.
Vesiro stood still before nodding his head.
"That was my mistake. I was just shocked." Vesiro sat back down.
Chrysos continued cooking the soup. "Say... you're a noble am I correct?"
Vesiro nodded. "Yes, I'm the eldest son of the Nacoris family."
"The hell are you guys doing out here then? You're still at Provectis rank and you're facing against creatures that can easily kill you here? What's the logic behind this?" Chrysos thought that it was outright stupid to stay here alone.
"It was a competition against me and my siblings, but one of us played underhanded tactics." Vesiro tightened his hands into fists.
Chrysos took out an apple and took a bite. "Was it... that guy who slit your throat?" Chrysos pointed to Vesiro's neck.
Vesiro's eyes widened. "That's right, I was attacked and he slit my throat." Vesiro held his neck and he couldn't find any trace of injuries. "How did you-?"
"Healing potion." Chrysos tossed a vial to Vesiro. "Very convenient to have in my opinion."
Vesiro caught it and examined the potion for a while. "Thank you..."
"No, you don't have to thank me... I'm running from the city of Aroiis and I need someone to help me get a citizenship in Ironmountain." Chrysos finished cooking the soup and then he poured some for Vesiro on a bowl. "Here, we'll make a deal... I'll help you thrash that brother of yours and you'll help me get a chance to run safely in Ironmountain. How's that for a deal?"
Vesiro took the bowl of soup. "That seems fair."
"Glad we have an understanding then." Chrysos laughed and removed his mask. He raised his bowl and gulped it down in one go. "Phew... that was delicious."
...
...
Back at the campsite.
Heisch discussed the plan to go home to Scrieno. Looking at the map, Scrieno pointed out many dangerous areas in the map that they should avoid.
"Brother Scrieno, you're really knowledgeable when it comes to the safe areas in the iron mountains. I feel that if I stick with you, we'll be out of here in no time!" Heisch praised Scrieno's knowledge.
"Of course I had to research the iron mountains. What am I supposed to do? Guess blindly what the safe areas and the danger zones were?" Scrieno laughed.
"You don't seem too concerned about our other siblings. What if they're still alive out there?" Heisch asked Scrieno after seeing that he wasn't as concerned as he expected.
Scrieno paused and said, "With that much beasts in the horde, I would rather escape than try to risk my life and lose it as well. As cruel as it sounds, we have to worry about ourselves too." Scrieno faked a pained expression.
Seeing Scrieno like this, Heisch assured him. "Don't worry, if we get home quick enough, maybe father would be able to help us find the both of them."
Scrieno's eyes brightened up. "Yeah, you're right.. let's go now." Scrieno stood up with great difficulty and walked with a limp leg.
Heisch didn't hesitate to support Scrieno as they walked back.
There was no doubt that this journey back will take weeks but Heisch wasn't worried. He was confident enough that they could escape given enough time and by staying away from the danger zones. Besides, food isn't a problem since they can hunt lesser beasts for food anyways.
The two of them were about to leave when they both heard Vesiro's voice calling out to them.
"Stop! Both of you!" Vesiro shouted.
Heisch was filled with happiness. He shouted back. "Brother Vesiro! You're here!"
Vesiro didn't show a smile contrary to Heisch's expectations. "Heisch! Look out!"
"What?" Heisch was confused but when he turned around, he could see Scrieno was about to stab him with his sword.
It all happened as if it was in slow motion.
Heisch saw the sword slowly approach his chest but he wasn't fast enough to react to it.
Swoosh!
Suddenly, a golden beam of light struck Scrieno's sword and sent it flying away!
"Gah!" Scrieno gripped his wrist that was burning from the golden beam.
Vesiro dashed forward and took Heisch to his back. He then pointed his sword at Scrieno just in case he does anything underhanded.
Heisch was still unable to comprehend what just happened. He looked at Vesiro and asked him. "B- brother, what's going on? I don't understand.."
Vesiro looked at Heisch who was on the verge of losing it. He took a deep breath and said. "Scrieno killed Levis, the guards that father sent us and lastly, he tried to kill me. He spared you so that no one would suspect his lies."
Heisch turned to Scrieno. He couldn't believe what he just heard. "Brother, it isn't true right? You didn't try to kill anyone right??" Heisch's voice sounded very desperate for answers.
Scrieno stood there silently.
"Answer me! This isn't you!" Heisch shouted.
"I killed them! Vesiro is telling the truth! I am willing to kill all of them just to become the head of the family! There, are you happy now?!" Scrieno angrily spat his words out.
Heisch stood frozen in his spot. He clenched his teeth and spoke with difficulty. "Then why.... Why were you so kind to me?"
"It's so that I can use you for my own bidding.. I am no different from Vesiro and Levis. You were the perfect one to trick because you're weak. That's the truth." Scrieno slowly stood up.
Heisch couldn't keep his tears from falling down. The feeling of betrayal coming from the person he trusted so much was a huge blow to his mind.
Chrysos yawned. "Now since that's cleared up, just kill him and we're good."
Scrieno laughed mockingly.
"Kill me? I still have the scroll!" Scrieno raised his left hand and used the scroll one more time. But after being expended one more time, it lost the energy to retain its physical structure and then the scroll crumbled to dust.
"Chrysos! Stop him! Quick!" Vesiro turned around and saw that Chrysos wasn't doing anything to stop it.
Vesiro angrily ran towards Scrieno but then, he felt the ground shake.
Rumble....
Heisch, Vesiro and Chrysos turned around and saw thousands of beasts coming for them.
"Scrieno! Are you insane!? You're going to kill yourself too if you keep this up! The situation can still be saved if you redirect the beasts using the scroll's remnant energy!" Vesiro widened his eyes in anger and shock.
However, his telling was only responded with a chuckle.
"I don't care anymore... we can all die together here." Scrieno slowly closed his eyes and waited for the beasts to kill him.
"Damn it!" Vesiro was about to chop Scrieno with his sword when Chrysos lazily stretched his arms and walked towards the beast horde. "Chrysos... the hell are you doing?"
"Me? Oh, nothing..." Chrysos took a few vials from his bag and threw them at the beast horde.
The vials broke and the liquid inside splashed on the ground.
Suddenly, wooden roots grew from the liquid puddles and just like living serpents, they attacked the beast horde and stabbed through many of them in just a few seconds!
Creak!
The wooden tentacles greedily sucked the blood of the beasts so that they can grow stronger.
Chrysos jumped on one of the roots and it carried him towards the battlefield. "Stay away from here. The roots cannot identify you as an ally if you don't have my potions."
Hearing Chrysos' warning, Vesiro knocked Scrieno out and grabbed Heisch's arm. "Let's go, we have to run while Chrysos holds them down for us!"
Heisch nodded and ran with Vesiro. "Alright.. but who is he? Is he your ally?"
Looking back, Vesiro shook his head with a slight frown. "Honestly, I don't even know."
Vesiro has never seen an alchemist fight before, so Chrysos' methods were a bit strange or in other words, unorthodox.
...
...
Chrysos turned around and saw that Vesiro and Heisch has ran away from the battlefield. Since he has no reason to hold back too much anymore, he grabbed a blue potion and a pink potion with yellow colors swirling inside it.
He opened the blue potion and poured the liquid out.
The blue liquid wasn't ordinary. The moment it touched the air, the liquid turned into tiny bugs that was the same size as dust. It looked like Chrysos was sprinkling blue dust everywhere.
He then opened the pink potion and when it was released, it evaporated into a large pink cloud over the battlefield.
It spanned a few meters and it was enough to cover half of the battlefield. The pink cloud continued rising into the air and when it was high enough, the pink cloud began raining down powerful bolts of lightning!
Crack!
Lightning bolts crashed down, killing hundreds of beasts every second. The chaotic behavior of the beasts combined with the bolts of lightning made a very bloody and spectacular sight.
Chrysos didn't stop, he drew symbols in the air using his fingers and for each symbol that he drew, a golden beam of light would shoot out, piercing through numerous beasts without stopping.
As he rode the giant wooden root, a beast managed to climb up and pounce at him.
Chrysos merely touched the beast's forehead and it's veins began glowing in under a second.
And shortly after, the beast exploded into hundreds of piece and splashed blood everywhere.
Chrysos' mask was covered with blood after that.
He wiped it clean and groaned. "I really hate blood splashing on my face."