By the time we finally crossed the jungleās inner stretch and climbed down yet another plateau step, everyone was exhausted beyond reason.
It had taken us
two
full days of nonstop traveling at our top speed, and I could not stress enough how many monstrosities we had to fight or run away from.
By the time we neared the end of the third plateau edge, the mountainous silhouette of the caldera we wanted to reach was becoming visible far in the distance.
If my guess was correct, weād reach there in about ten days.
Yeah, ten more days of fighting and running and hiking.
...Gods.
I never thought Iād say this, but I was starting to miss my father... and my lavish bedroom in his domain. Mostly the bedroom.
But on the bright side, the journey after we reached the caldera was going to be smooth and uneventful... or so I hoped.
ā¢ā¢ā¢
Three more days passed, and we were climbing down yet another escarpmentāour third one in more than twice as many days.
It
felt
like we were picking up speed, when suddenly we were attacked by a horde of insectoid creatures that resembled hornets with tentacles.
Yeah. Tentacles.
Hornets the size of truck tires, each with multiple spiked tentacles flailing out of their grotesque backs.
Why did everything here have tentacles?!
"Why does everything here have tentacles?!" Ray shouted exactly what I was thinking.
For the first, I agreed with him.
We were standing on a thin ledge, meaning we had no room to move around and put up a proper fight with those flying monstrosities.
So the first thing I did was call upon my innate power and extend the rocky ledge beneath us until it was wide enough to be called a platform ā granting just enough stability for everyone to move easily, if not comfortably.
Then... I heroically stepped back and allowed the others to fight off battle.
...What? Donāt judge me! Look, I had been working very hard the last couple of days!
Every time we climbed down these treacherous escarpments, it was
my
job to secure everyoneās footing and ensure no one plummeted to their death.
So yes, I had been working my
ass
off!
The least these ungrateful pricks could do for me in return was let me rest for a moment.
And, well... they did.
You see, given how immaturely these people behaved most of the time, it was very easy to forget that they all were the supposed main characters of this story.
Every single one of them was a prodigy in their own right.
Ray was the number two Cadet in our batch and had the highest attack potency out of us all, Vince possessed one of the most versatile support abilities I knew of, Lily was the first true seer born in the west in
generations
, Michael was by far the greatest swordsman of our age group, Alexia was unrivaled in close-quarters combat, and Juliana was... a psychopath.
Dealing with some oversized tentacle-hornets wasnāt going to be a problem for them.
And it wasnāt.
The fight lasted five minutes at best.
Juliana was the first to move.
She took a single step forward and
immediately
disappeared out of view, turning completely invisible for a few seconds before reappearing behind the first wave of advancing flying horrors.
Her rapier flashed and skewered several buzzing hornets in one
brutal
thrust.
Before the mindless beasts could even register what was happening, she vanished from sight once again and appeared at the hordeās flank.
Then she leapt, impaled the nearest hornet mid-air, vaulted off its abdomen, and landed on the platform with a dancerās grace.
And I donāt mean this metaphorically.
It
really
looked like she was dancing.
When she moved again, she was a blur.
Again, I mean this
literally
.
Her movements were
literally
hazy, like she was glitching and leaving afterimages in reality.
I figured she was using some sort of illusion Card to obscure her movements.
Honestly, I was a little surprised ā not because she had added some new Cards to her Deck, but because she was showing them off so easily.
Let me explain.
In the game, Juliana always favored an Assassinās Build ā meaning she preferred Cards that let her move discreetly, strike cleanly, and escape quickly.
She preferred illusion Cards, movement Cards, teleportation Cards.
She preferred traps, pre-planning, poisoning, incapacitating ā anything that didnāt involve a fair fight... just like a proper assassin.
And just like any proper assassin, she liked to keep her skills hidden.
The less everyone else knew of her capabilities, the less they could counter her when sheād actually decide to come for them.
So the fact that she was revealing even a fraction of her Soul Arsenal when she easily couldāve done what I was doing ā standing back and spectating, letting these fools fight in our stead ā was shocking.
In my opinion, it meant one of two things:
One: she really, really hated those giant hornets. Bugs did give her creeps, after all. Especially bugs that could fly.
Or two: she had decided to pull her own weight and not drag the group down for her own self-preservation.
So was it psychotic bug phobia or character development?
...Knowing Juliana, it was probably both.
Anyway, she took point and continued charging ahead, displaying her impressive swordsmanship.
Behind her, I saw Michael slashing through two hornets at once. His dark longsword was moving in quick bursts of sharp yet precise arcs.
Anything that got too close to him was cut down in a blink.
His rhythm was immaculate, and he kept connecting each one of his attacks to the next in a smooth flow.
For some reason, his swordplay reminded me of calligraphy strokes. Quick and rapid, but controlled and surgical at the same time.
Alexia rushed beside him, faster than the beasts facing her could react. Her bare fists cracked open chitin with the sound of snapping tree bark.
Kang obviously shadowed her, tearing through hornets in feral rage.
He was using a movement ability that let him dash through short distances at breakneck speed, making his attacks far more unpredictable than usual.
Ray, who usually relied on his explosions, was currently stuck with only a short sword since we didnāt want him blowing up the platform beneath us.
He was holding his own... mostly because Lily kept yelling warnings a split second before each creature dove at him.
"Left!"
"Right!"
"Behind you!"
"How many directions do these things have?!" he cried, swinging wildly.
Vince cast enhancement after enhancement, boosting everyoneās speed, stamina, strength, and occasionally bonking a hornet with a baton whenever one flew too close.
Everyone was doing well... but not better than Juliana.
She was in her element.
Every tentacle that lashed at her missed.
Every hornet that tried to fly off fell to her pinpoint strikes.
Within minutes, the entire horde lay scattered across the ledge, twitching or very much dead. Most slain by her.
Everyone took a breath.
Michael faced her, dismissing his sword. "Where the hell were these moves before today?"
Juliana frowned at him, huffing. "Ugh, my leg was hurt? Also, I helped kill that two-headed serpent."
"I think I contributed more in that fight," Ray declared proudly, wiping his short sword.
"You were recording everything from a safe distance!" Michael snapped.
"Alright, enough!" I clapped my hands before it devolved into another pointless bickering. "Good work. Absorb as much Essence as you can and letās move before another family of tentacle-hornets shows up."
Everyone did as told.
Soon after, we resumed our descent.
...And
thatās
when the real disaster struck.
Not during the fight.
Not when we were surrounded.
Not when death was inches away.
No, no.
The real disaster struck after
everything
had already ended.
What happened, one may ask?
Oh, it was Vince.
He... fell.
Yes, the moron
fell
!
On flat, stable, non-threatening ground. He fell!
He slipped on a rock. A normal rock. Just... a
rock
!
"Woahā!" he screamed.
Juliana, who was closest, quickly reached out and grabbed his wrist on reflex. Except the angle was terrible. She had to twist herself halfway off the ledge to reach him, which meantā
"Waitā No, no, noā!" Vince yelped as Julianaās foot skidded... and she went over the edge with him!
She made a sound that was similar to what startled cats make when you grab them too tightly, and if not for the fact that she was in the process of falling off a cliff, I
mightāve
found it cute.
But before I could reactā
Ray dove after them like the hero of a cheap action movie. "Julia! Vince!"
Then Michael dove after him a second later. "Ray, you idiot!"
And now there were four morons falling instead of two.
I pulled at my hair with dĆ©jĆ vu-induced suffering. "Oh, come on! This is getting old!"
"Not again!" Lily gasped and nearly tripped herself while trying to summon a Card. "Nobody jump! Iāll get them!"
But she didnāt get the chance.
A golden rope whipped through the air and looped around all four idiots.
I didnāt even need to guess who it was.
Only one person in this group had a functioning brain besides me.
Alexia.
She dug her heels into the rock, braced her entire body, and hauled the four morons up like she was fishing.
With Kangās help, she dragged them back onto the ledge.
Afterward, she lowered her lasso, dusted her hands sassily, and said in the calmest, most unimpressed tone possible, "How you all managed to climb down without anyone dying when I was unconscious the first few days is beyond me."
"Oh, they tried. They really did try," I said, pinching the bridge of my nose before turning to the group. "Weāve been here for weeks.
Weeks
! And somehow, your collective IQ is still... what, eight?"
They made various offended noises as Alexia stepped over them like they were inconvenient tree roots.
"Heyā!" Ray tried to sit up but winced. "Okay, I thought Iād grab them and fly up!"
Juliana hissed like an alley cat. "Thatās why I donāt help falling people. They drag you down with them."
Wow, words of wisdom.
Vince started throwing an actual tantrum. "I donāt like this place! I donāt like jungles! I donāt like trees or mountains or rivers! Sam... please tell me weāre close to getting out of here. Please!"
"As much as Iād love to lie," I said, "weāre barely halfway there."
Vince closed his eyes and began cursing in his mother tongue.