Chapter 29 - Inside the Armadillon's Nest (1)

A few minutes ago, a young man and two young women were observing the cave below the hills in the forest near the West Peninsula. "So, ready to go?" Renata asked. I nodded, "Yeah." Dorothy and Rie also nodded together. "None of you are nervous, right?" Renata asked with a smile. I gulped while Dorothy and Rie shook their heads. "Don't be nervous, little bro. It's like old times," Renata slapped me on the back. "Old times, my ass. I was always the bait," I grumbled. "Hahaha. Indeed. Good old times," Renata chuckled. Dorothy and Rie looked weirdly at me. "Okay. Let's go!" Renata said. We proceeded to follow Renata closely toward the Armadillons' nest. "Surprise!" Renata smiled as she swung her sword downwards toward an Armadillon, cleanly cleaving the monster in half. Then, Dorothy followed by launching a boulder which she scooped up with her spell from the ground toward a batch of Armadillons near their nest.

With a boom, several Armadillons died at the hands of Dorothy. I then used my ARC-D to envelop myself with a green aura. "Wind Blade," I slashed diagonally, killing another batch of Armadillons near the nest's entrance. "Now, Rie!" I shouted. "I got it," Rie quietly sneaked inside the Armadillons' nest and planted several explosives near the entrance. "It's done," Rie shouted. "Good," Renata praised, "Everyone, now!" Dorothy and I nodded at the same time and proceeded to rush inside the nest. "Blow it up," Renata said. "Aye, aye," Rie pressed the detonator, and with that, the explosives went off and blocked the nest's entrance. Realizing that the entrance to their home was blocked, the Armadillons outside let out an angry roar.

As the rubbles piled down, Rie took out a flashlight and lit it up. She pointed it toward the depths of the Armadillon's nest. "Strange," Rie rubbed her chin. "What's wrong, Rie?" Dorothy asked. "The nest should be crawling with Armadillons. Why is it empty?" Rie furrowed her eyebrows. "Now that you mention it…." Dorothy gripped her staff tightly while scanning her surroundings. "Sharp judgment, student Rie," Renata said with a smile. "There is indeed something unusual with the Armadillon outbreak this time. We'll see once we venture in deeper," Renata added. "Vaan," Renata called me. "You'll be in front. Scout the area for us," Renata said. I took a deep breath, "Fine." Renata smirked, "What, got a problem?" I shook my head, "Nope, not complaining. We all know what that led into," I said. "Wise choice," Renata grinned widely.

Seeing my sister smile, a past memory flashed in my head. Once, we both explored some caves, and Renata got kind of scared. She told me to get in deeper, but I refused. You know what Renata did? She punched my stomach and threw me inside. Thankfully there was no monster inside, but I fell deeper into the cave and had to wait almost all day for rescue. Brr, thinking about it still gave me chills. Especially the aftermath, where Renata just smiled innocently without a shred of guilt and asked me to explore more caves. As we were walking, we arrived in front of a massive steel door blocking us. "As I expected. It's them." Renata mumbled.