Return of the Fallen Volume 12 Chapter 91
After killing the strange round fleshy monster, Kazuki and the others had to continue fleeing. Whatever creature was following them only seemed to grow louder and with it, the ground shook more and more violently. They already had wasted time dealing with the fat monster with multiple limbs and heads. In the process, they used up more of their Divine energy. Fighting anything else would drain them more and more.
Avoiding battles was the smartest decision so all they could do was run. Up ahead, the terrain changed from a vast lush forest to a dry volcanic mountain range.
Dredinkar did not like this one bit and protested.
“Specxzu going into that heat, you know it will leave me and mine at a disadvantage!”
“What’s the matter, afraid your grey bark will catch flame? We don’t have time to argue, that thing is still chasing us. We need to put as much distance between it and us or would you rather confront it and waste even more precious energy?”
“If we just keep running away it will only follow. We can’t outrun it under these restrictions. The gravity alone is affecting us. The best choice may just be to turn and face whatever this thing is. With this many on our side, we should be able to kill it or at the very least deter it enough to send it away so it bothers us no more.”
Specxzu looked behind them and saw trees shaking left and right as the creature continued its approach. None of them knew what it could be but Specxzu knew Dredinkar had a point. At the same time, the way they were going was the direction of the suspicious black mountain. They would need to cross this volcanic terrain no matter what just to reach it. That or take a long way around.
Specxzu weighed the pros and cons.
“Fighting it here may cost us precious time and energy but we would be dealing with it. If it does catch up to us while we are in the hot volcanic range, a fourth of our group would be weaker under those conditions…Fine, Dredinkar, Carta, Medatte. Whatever breaches the forest, we will attack it all together and destroy it in a single move.”
Carta was now unsure. She had made several mistakes up to this point and one of her people, one of her family members was now dead and gone. She could not lose anyone else. She had to be absolutely sure and asked.
“How much power should we use? If we go all out it will take time to recover in this place. If we all use up our power and then something else hits us when we’re out of energy, it could be disastrous right?”
Specxzu was at a loss. His mandibles clicked together in thought and he looked at Kazuki. Kazuki as well was unsure as he had no problem when it came to energy consumption. Even if he couldn’t cut open Chaotic space and absorb any Chaotic energy, he still had a shit ton of Divine crystals inside his storage ring. Although he couldn’t access it by himself due to this weird place’s restrictions. With the help of one of the Artifacts, he could open his storage ring and take out as many Divine crystals as he so desired.
So he did not know what the appropriate answer was. Should they use a small amount of energy or a large portion, it was hard to tell.
Kazuki looked to Fleck and asked.
“Fleck, can you see our surroundings?”
Fleck looked around them and then tried to jump. The gravity was harsh and only allowed him about 10 feet off the ground.
“Master, I could use a boost.”
Kazuki gave Nala a nod. Nala walked over with her hulking muscles and grabbed Fleck by his shirt and with a low grunt she tossed him several hundred feet up into the sky.
Specxzu and the others wondered what they were doing but waited first.
While in the air, Fleck’s eyes narrowed slightly as he scanned the area 360 degrees. Afterward, he landed in front of Kazuki.
“Master, besides the thing following us, I don’t see anything else for a few hundred miles.”
“Good work.”
Kazuki patted Fleck on the shoulder before saying.
“Fleck here has unusual eyes. Even without energy, he can see much further than a normal God. Even in this place, I’d say his eyes have no match. There doesn’t seem to be anything in our surroundings besides what’s been following us. So, even if we go all out, we should be able to recover our energy in peace. I still don’t know if this means we should go all out but at the very least that makes going all out a more viable option. What do you say Specxzu?”
Specxzu looked at Nala for a moment. It was surprised by her strength. In terms of physical strength, he did not put her in the same category as the others. Instead, he was comparing her to himself and Kazuki. With this new information, he was calculating something. He looked at his last two remaining soldiers and felt disappointed. He looked back to Kazuki.
“This should be fine. Let us kill this time-wasting bastard and be done with it. Everyone, go all out right from the beginning. I don’t want even a speck of ash to remain.”
Carta’s gauntlets appeared on her hands and she punched her hand lightly causing a metallic ring to echo out.
“Finally, no more running.”
Dredinkar had six weapons appear in his six hands. Two of them were sharp swords while one was a thorn-lined whip. One a heavy mace, and another a thick rod. Finally in his last hand was a white card.
Kazuki and the others were all shocked seeing this because each of these weapons was a Divine Soul weapon. Kazuki had no idea how someone could have multiple soul weapons. Even Carta’s gauntlets were a set and were a part of each other, connected.
(Arc, how is that possible?)
…
Arc secretly inspected each weapon closely without Dredinkar’s knowledge.
(I don’t know. It seems each soul weapon has a complete soul inside, a perfect copy of the original. There is no fragment inside but rather full souls of himself. This is bizarre…way too bizarre. I can’t say if he split his soul or if he simply made these iterations from nothing. This is profound. In this way, its as if there are six Gods in front of us rather than one.)
Kazuki was beginning to understand Dredinkar’s strange power from when he fought Carta.
(Ars does this mean if I destroy one of his soul weapons it will not fully destroy him.)
(I can’t say for sure but most likely that’s the case. It’s all for one or nothing at all. If it comes down to it, you’ll need to take him out and destroy all six soul weapons as swiftly as possible. Otherwise, the chance of him fleeing is great. He could send all six weapons in six different directions and in this place, there’s no chance you can get to all of them without at least one escaping.)
Dredinkar showed all of these weapons on purpose. it was a declaration saying I’m not so weak and if you try me, I will be a challenge. Even Specxzu recognized this and became weary. Another had decided to no longer hide their abilities. Some would consider this foolish to show so many cards before potential enemies but this was an odd set of circumstances.
Dredinkar had seen the way Specxzu had looked at him from the first moment and from the beginning he was seen as one of the weakest if not the weakest among the group of leaders here. Dredinkar was no fool. He felt the danger around him. If he really did hold back when whatever monster came out of the forest, Specxzu would be witness to his power and if in that moment he determined Dredinkar as prey instead of useful, Dredinkar feared Specxzu would see this as an opportunity to take out a rival earlier then agreed.
Bearing his fangs now and showing his strength, Dredinkar was determined not to be attacked or at the very least seen as such a problem that fighting him while everyone was weak would not be wise.
Carta once more felt a sense of loss. She had thought she was mighty. She had come here with confidence and thought she had put Dredinkar in his place a bit but it turned out he had been holding back by a large margin. She had used one gauntlet to face him and thought she was tough shit but now looking back on it, Dredinkar hadn’t even used a soul weapon to face her. Humiliation was felt overwhelmingly at this moment and she had been humbled.
Now she no longer looked at everyone as if they were dirt but true threats. One of her clan members was already dead and now she could see she was outclassed by everyone around her. She couldn’t help but squeeze the bracelet her grandparents had given her with forethought.
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