Beast Parade (25/36)

"Oh, Captain, you made it back," Mizuroka said, seeming slightly surprised. "I thought you weren't retelling until sundown."

"Returni...Ow!!"

Jak didn't even have time to fully correct the blonde Rift Hunter before he was unceremoniously slapped on the back of the head. Unwilling to take that blow sitting down, Jak dropped the orb, raised his foot, and stomped on Mizu's open toed shoes, aiming for her big toe. Flinching, the blonde tried to give the young Rookie a good punch in the gut, but Jak was already gone, retreating from the Rift Hunters range. Tauntingly, Jak stuck out his tongue and laughed.

"You little-"

Ignoring the two as they began to wrestle each other, Oginio addressed the Guild Leader, of whom was watching Jak and Mizuroka with a mixture of amusement and anticipation, as if he himself wanted to join in.

"Mizuroka is right about one thing," the Vice Captain said. "You're quite early. We weren't expecting you for a few more hours."

Dante turned his attention towards Oginio, a smile on his face, hand rubbing the back of his head. "Well, I happened to find more Magma Cores than was needed, so I decided to see how you guys were doing. From the looks of things, there aren't any casualties."

"No, but the training and collecting of the Cores has been rather slow going." Oginio gestured to the singular golden orb lying near the brawling idiots. "That's only one of three we could find so far."

"Quit going for the hair." -Jak

"Stop sobbing on my foot." - Mizuroka

"It's stompin- Ow!!" -Jak

"HA!! That's what you get!!" - Mizuroka

"Hmm. That's fine. The Quest we received from Anjo only required a minimum of fifteen." Dante tapped his red bracelet. "We can head back home whenever we're ready."

"Wait, you already got all of them?" Oginio asked in surprise, loud enough for the other two to hear.

"Yup."

Dante slid his index finger vertically along the bracelets rim. Flashing softly, the bracelet hummed with magic.

"Release."

Boom! Boom! Boom!

One by one, golden orbs in various sizes materialized in the rocky terrain beside Dante, slamming into the ground with their full weight. Stacking on top of one another, Oginio counted a full 16 Magma Cores, far more than what the order required them to possess. There was even a Magma Core that radiated a crimson instead of the usual golden, indicating a mutant type variation of the Magma Giant, which was said to be ten times stronger than the one the Vice Captain's group had just got done fighting. Sometimes, Oginio forgot just how much stronger the orange haired Captain was from everyone within the Flaming Sparrows, especially since he acted like a raging goofball more than half the time.

"Ooh, there's a red one in here?" Jak asked, walking back over to them, head of dishevled hair. "A mutation type."

"That'll go for an exuberant amount more than normal." Mizuroka limped back into the conversation, lighting stepping on the same foot Jak had stomped before their scuffle. "Eggs needing more."

"Exceedingly," Oginio corrected.

"Still having trouble understanding Ornerian, Mizu?" Dante questioned, laughing heartily. "I can definitely see some improvement. You aren't stumbling over the words at the very least."

Mizuroka flushed, pouting slightly. "Ornerian is hard."

"You'll get the hang of it," Dante comforted, waving his hand. "I have faith in you. You just need some patience and more grape juice."

"What's on the agenda next, Dante?" Jak asked, poking one of the golden orbs. "We heading back to Intok?"

Dante turned his full attention onto Jak for the first time since his arrival, neon orange hues softening up the moment they made contact with the Rookie's crimson ones. Walking up, the orange haired Rift Hunter roughly rustled the top of Jaks head.

"The Guild will head back to camp," Dante answered. "WE, however, are getting some training in. Maybe some some weapons talk and monster hunting?"

"Seriously??!! Heck yeah, let's do it!!"

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"Training in a Forsaken World?" Psyche muttered rhetorically. "Sounds just like Dante, reckless as always."

"Yeah," Jak said softly, eyes filled with a pained nostalgia, actual emotion showing on his visage. It was one of the few times the Buttermoth Rift Hunter had seen anything other than a frown on Jaks face. "He was my tutor. My trainer. My closest friend.

"What about Mako?" Psyche questioned.

"He's my brother," the redhead responded, as if it was obvious.

"Right."

"Whenever me and Dante had the opportunity, we would always do things together." Jak turned left at one of the lanes, taking a small shortcut towards his destination. "The Guild came first obviously, but that never stopped him or me from being around each other.

"Sounds like you guys were really close."

"You could say that."

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"So, how're you liking Greldoa so far? Pretty wild, don't ya think?"

Jak tilted his head slightly as he thought about it. "It's kinda hot. Monsters are quite strong. There's not too much to look at. Honestly.....Mesonitle was a better world than this one."

"Ain't that the truth," Dante agreed.

It hadn't been long since the two of them had parted ways from the rest of the Flaming Sparrows, Dante having suggested the lot of them return to the camp to prepare for departure. They weren't heading out of the world immediately, but it was best to make sure everyone was ready to leave the very moment that the Guildmaster decided to move on out. There were a few procrastinators within the Guild, and it was in everyone's best interest if the Flaming Sparrows in the entirety was given a substantial headstart in packing up. While they did that, Jak and Dante had made their way out into Greldoa's flatlands, where it was rumored that the volcano themselves were actually dungeons. The monsters around the area were said to be on the weaker side, perfect for novices to hone their skills, even if the drop rate for items was close to nonexistent.

Currently, though, the bright haired duo was sitting on the edge of a cliff overlooking the vast array of volcanoes, waiting for the waves of monsters to appear.

"There was this one world I went to back in my days as a beginning adventurer. It was a world filled with stone mountains as far as the eye could see. It was called Piedra, the Long Rock World." Dante grinned from ear to ear. "The natives were quite nice and even showed the Guild I was in some of the relics they possessed. According to their legends, there was even a monument that could capture a celestial being."

"It could capture Gods??!!" Jak exclaimed in wonder.

"Only once," Dante said, holding up a finger. "Obviously, there isn't any way to prove this since all the God's are sealed, but they take care of that relic anyways. Same with all of them."

"They have a lot of these relics?"

"It was a long time ago, so I don't know about now but back in the day? Yeah. It's said the Piedrans were the ones who helped build the original monuments that sealed the Primordials and the celestials." Dante grinned. "Compared to everyone else, the Piedrans were geniuses of their time that couldn't be matched by anyone. They even made the 52 Legendary GodKillers."

"Didn't the dwarves make the Godkill.....Oohhhhh,"

"Yup." Dante laughed. "Piedra is the Dwarves original home world before they expanded and set foot in Ornera. It's why our Guild originally went there. Revel in the culture and learn more about our Dwarven brethren. Was definitely a better trip than Greldoa."

CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

The conversation betwixt the two was halted as large fissures within the volcanoes nearest them appeared, fissures that widened with every second that passed. From within these cracks in the ruptured landscape, monsters of all shapes and sizes crawled out, erupting from the very depths of the earth with various cries and howls. Just as the rumors had said, the parade of beasts had started, summoning forth a horde of demons filled with malice and rage.

"Welp, looks like it's time to start," Dante announced happily, standing up from his perch. A pitch black cape with a symbol in the center of it phased into existence, along with a thick longsword with an equally dark sheath. Pulling it out, the swords dark orange blade glowed ever so briefly. "You ready for a proper battle Jakklo?"

"Let's do it," Jak eagerly replied, enthusiasm plastered on his face. Just like Dante, the redhead pulled out his weapon, a silver katana.

"Lead the way."

"Try not to get lost in my dust!!"

"Whatever you say short stack."

With a laugh, Jak leaped off the edge of the cliff, Dante following close behind. Together, the two landed onto the rocky terrain with relative ease and burst forward, heading into the fray without a second to spare. The freshly formed monsters hadn't taken notice of them yet, the vast majority still trying to get their barings as they fumbled over one another. The only ones who happened to see the speeding adventurers were the ones closest, their red eyes locking in on them shortly after they landed. Though they had little time to actually alert anyone since Jak was quick to cut them down the moment he was within range.

"How about this. The one who cuts down more monsters gets to choose the meal for tonight." Jak cut the head off of a Green Goblin Guard, leaping over it as its decapitated body hit the floor. "No external magic. Only strength and swordsmanship."

"HAAA!!!" Dante calmly cut down three attacking monsters with a flurry of swings from his weapon. "I hope you like Ligen Pepper Chicken Alfredo."

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"Hehe. You guys sound like brothers more than friends." Psyche stifled a laugh. "Why would you propose a challenge against a Rift Hunter?"

"Don't people usually go easy on children?" Jak rebuttalled, defending his stance.

"But it's Dante." Psyche giggled. "He doesn't care."

"No." The corners of Jaks mouth turned upwards in a sad smile. "No, he did not."

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"And the score tallies up to Jak with 138. Dante coming in with a whopping 1239. AND THE CROWD GOES WILD!!! An upset like this hasn't been seen in generations since the sport began, the underdog takes home the win. Dante Yanda has won his team the championship!!!"

"Shut up," Jak said, grinning slightly. "I had 150. I'll have you know."

"Oh, my mistake. I must have miscounted." Dante shrugged his shoulders. "Must have missed it somewhere around the 800 mark. Can't win them all I guess."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Hope you like grape juice and Alfredo because that's all you're gonna be eating tonight, Jakklo. Savor it. Revel in it. Nothing wrong with taking a loss. Not that I would know how that feels."

Jak merely clapped his hands together, shaking his head with a bitter smile. "Truly a force to be reckoned with."

"True. But let's collect whatever items were dropped while you contemplate how to win next time. I can give you some pointers on where you went wrong." Dante glanced over the sea of monster corpses, the parade of beasts having been fully annihilated shortly after it first appearing.

"Whatever you say Dante."

"Afterward, we can talk about weapons. I saw this really cool weapon in the store the other day and it was on a whole other level compared to the usual ones on the market. It said in the brochure it had an Athrafstos core and Rubendal lining to give it an extra oomph!!"

"An Athrafstos core?? But that would make it-

"Near unbreakable. Thats what I'm saying!! It must've been a custom order from some noble. A pound of that stuff costs and arm and a leg."