Published at 16th of February 2024 2:22 pm

Chapter 63. Never Split The Party

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A soft kiss stirred Nox the following morning. Annabelle lay next to him, stroking his hair. She climbed atop before he could say anything, and before he knew it, they were locked in a tight embrace. Her clumsy hands gave away her inexperience as they peeled off clothes and explored each other’s bodies. Their amorous activities were short.

The pair had to keep silent and avoid jostling the tent. As a result, they struggled to find a comfortable position. The bedrolls provided poor protection from the cold hard floor, and they didn’t have much room to move. The activity proved too painful for Annabelle to enjoy—which came as no surprise since it was her first time. She tried to distract herself with deep kissing at first, but they eventually had to stop.

Despite everything, Annabelle still appeared gleeful afterward. She considered it a milestone, and they spent a while just holding one another and talking in whispers.

“I don’t want us to split up,” Annabelle said. “Communicating with Ernest is difficult. I can’t tell if he can hear me half the time. Yesterday wouldn’t have turned out the way he did otherwise. Don’t leave me alone with him. Please.”

“You won’t be alone, Annabelle,” Nox replied. “Wilson will be with you. Michelle might return to her coffin laboratory, but she’ll be there, too.”

“It’s not the same.”

“We need to do this. The longer we delay finding the boss, the greater the risk of us failing to clear the rift in time. I’m fine missing class, but are the rest of you?”

“We don’t need the clear reward. Whatever is in the vault has got to be more valuable. I’ll give you my share—”

“Lillin and I are going to scout the area and then come find you.” Nox tightened his hold, hoping it would reassure Annabelle. “I want to pay my own way in life, Annabelle. I like you, and our time together has been excellent. However, my financial independence is dear to me. Besides, clearing a journeyman rift will get us closer to advancing our licenses.”

“I’m aware of how important this is to you.” Annabelle sighed. She pecked him on the lips. “This is the last time we split up like this. Either we find more party members who don’t give me the chills, or you stay with me.”

“Would you rather Lillin accompany you while Ernest comes with me?”

“I’d rather not,” Annabelle said.

“Why not?” Nox asked.

“Would you really to discuss why? Right now?”

Nox fell silent. Given her magic, he figured she had pieced things regarding Lillin. Annabelle didn’t just have detection spells. She was amongst the most intelligent women he knew. They perfectly complimented her. Lillin’s mannerisms had grown more human after the last delve. Her behavior no longer felt false. However, that didn’t mean her mimic urges were gone. Annabelle probably felt something strange when those flared.

When the pair heard Lillin and Michelle conversing half an hour later, they crawled out of the tent. The former shot her a mischievous smile while they only got a nod from the Beauforts. Wilson still lay in his bedroll, snoring, while Ernest sat on a fallen pillar, watching the temple’s entrance.

The weather had changed. Black clouds darkened the previously blue sky, and torrential rain beat the cracked rocks underneath. Its roar was deafening. Nox had only seen such weather when the Golden Isles floated near the continent’s southern edge. The locals called it Monsoon. It was their fifth season and vital for hydrating the dried earth for fresh planting.

The party ate in silence. Much to everyone’s surprise, Ernest and Michelle brought them a small feast. They had fresh fruit, cheese, cured meat, and even citrus juice. His miniaturization spell didn’t spoil food like Lillin’s spatial storage. They feasted before packing up camp.

Michelle entered a glass room inside her lab. She pulled on a mask with pipes that connected it to several large tanks. Then Michelle sealed the room from the inside before Ernest shrunk the laboratory and folded it into its coffin-shaped storage mode. When he finished, it was no bigger than his torso and hung comfortably across his back. Then Nox handed Annabelle sonic, fire, and lightning projectiles he had prepared for her. She kissed him goodbye before departing with Ernest and Wilson. The noblewoman glanced at him several times as she walked away, expecting Nox to change his mind.

“We’re not just scouting and returning to them, are we?” Lillin asked once they were alone.

“No,” Nox answered. “Given the weather and yesterday’s losses, it's likely the asuras are in disarray. We’re going to avoid fights and sneak past every patrol or checkpoint we come across. Let's find the boss so you can feast.”

Lillin grinned. “That’s precisely what I wanted to hear.” Her fresh rippled. Lillin’s torso, arms, and legs gained mass. She wore stretchy clothes for her biomass augmentations, but the fabric around her sleeves and pant legs went taught. “Are you ready?”

Nox nodded. He handed her Trap Foam, smoke pellets, and a couple of essence glass lightning bombs. Then he took an extra long swig from his flask. “Don’t run too fast. I can barely keep up with you when you’re normal.”

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“Normal.” Lillin chuckled. “I hate your standards for normal.”

The pair sprinted out of the temple. They stuck to the side of buildings, staying in their shadow. It didn’t just help minimize the chances of them being seen. The decrepit structures also reduced the volume of rain assaulting Nox. As they ran, he couldn’t help but envy Lillin.

For her Beginner Spell Weaving, Lillin had taken on a project to improve her gravity enchantment instead of developing a new spell. Nox guessed that since Gravity Spiral mostly used intent-driven Manipulation, it wasn’t a good fit for the course’s pass parameters. Instead, Lillin had worked on improving the magic that helped her resist her gravity orbs’ effects and made her body light enough to move swiftly and silently. Now, it helped her repel the rain.

Droplets sprayed Nox in the face as they flew away from her, forcing him to slow until she was sufficiently ahead. Then he struggled to keep up with her as Lillin picked up the pace. He didn’t dare yell and ask her to slow down.

No asura corpses remained on the previous day’s battlefield. Nox guessed the asura had returned during the night to collect their dead. Alternatively, the fallen became one with the rift, returning the remaining life force and mana to their lord. Thanks to the rain, few traces of blood remained alongside broken weapons and shattered shields.

Lillin paused before they passed the battlefield. She raised her nose to the air and sniffed. “Something powerful has been through here recently.”

“Was it the Rift Lord?” Nox asked.

“No. Something else. It doesn’t smell like the Asura. I sense something more bestial. Could be a pet.”

“Most texts call the Asura a warring race. It could be some sort of big beast of burden to help carry everything away.”

“Or a war beast,” Lillin said. “I’m just wondering about the possibility of facing two powerful foes instead of one. The four-armed asuras were likely the elites—”

“Not necessarily.” Nox interrupted her. “Think about the previous rift. There were different sizes of lizards with different power sets. It could be the same here. Those big guys were terrifying. They had excellent martial skills and long-range magical abilities. This could get even more terrifying if they’re not the elites.”

“Instead of wasting time on what-ifs, how about we get there and see what’s what? If it's too much for us to handle, we can always regroup with the others and challenge the boss together. I’m pretty sure Annabelle knows I’m not human, and I doubt Michelle will care since her brother is anatomically more similar to me than you. We’ll only need someone to distract Wilson while I feast.”

“I’d rather it not come to that. Suspecting something and knowing the truth are two entirely different states. The closer they are to the latter, the more you’re at risk. We can’t afford that this early.”

“They’ll know eventually.”

“The key word is eventually, Lillin.” Nox sighed. “I know there is no talking you out of it. You see an opportunity, and you’re going to feed.”

“Worst case scenario, I die, and you flee with Otis’ help to your lady love. The vault’s contents will get you decent coin, and you’ll be free of the contract. Doesn’t that sound—”

“I don’t want you to die,” Nox said. “Our relationship started off transactional, but I’d like to think our dynamic has changed since then. It’s not just our contract that binds us. I feel you’ve also changed a fair bit since you ate the last Rift Lord. Perhaps you see our relationship differently, too.”

“My feelings towards you changed years before I consumed the Rift Lord,” Lillin replied. “I might seem different since I’m no longer pretending to be human, but you’ve been dear to me for quite some time. It's impossible to tell when that happened. However, it's no longer the just contract that ties me to you.”

“Does that mean you won’t eat me if I stop feeding you?” Nox asked.

“No. I’ve been studying human-beast contracts with Pudge. We either complete our deal, or one of us needs to die. There’s no way around me. The contract will drive me mad. Resisting devouring you will be impossible. If I fight it too long, I’ll go mad, and your option will be to kill me or spend your life running away.”

The dark revelation ended their conversation. They continued their journey deeper into the city, heading towards the spire in the distance. Given the architecture, Nox guessed it was part of another temple. Otis detected patrols on the way and warned Nox. They dodged between builds or walked through their crumbling remains.

The party’s hypothesis proved correct. They had inflicted devastating foes to the rift’s forces the previous day. Every patrol they passed either had one oversized grunt or four-armed asura, and only a couple of smaller specimens followed them.

It took half an hour to find the dark, tree-covered path Lillin had found the day before. The group of seven guards just beyond the entrance proved her suspicion. Something worth protecting lay beyond. Nox made short work of them without Lillin’s help.

It was just how Professor Wolfhammer predicted. The power Ratra’s Bow exhibited had grown significantly since Nox completed his Shaping planet. It wasn’t just the spiraling crystal spikes. His arrow punched deeper into the hammer-wielding wolfmen and ripped through the rift’s grunts despite their thick leathery hides. He imagined the projectiles would only get stronger with his next planet.

Nox prepared an ordinary mana arrow but invested more mana in the crystals surrounding it. He created six. Three revolved near the arrowhead while the rest floated further away. Nox Shaped the inner trio into spikes pointed spikes with a spiral pattern. The three on the outside adopted the previously used serrated blades.

A four-armed asura stood in the middle of the pathway. A pair stood in front of him, and they were locked deep in conversation. The rest remained on watch duty, beady eyes studying their surroundings. As Nox scaled a nearby building, he missed Aristan’s Arm. The tools made handholds where there were none and had the strength to cling to corners too wide for his hands. Fortunately, he had sufficient upper body strength to complete the climb without any injury or too much effort.

Once at the top, he lay low, waiting for the watching asura to look anywhere but his hiding stop. Five minutes passed before the conversation between the dungeon inhabitants grew heated. One guard looked back while the other two watched the street stretching out on either side of them.

Nox slowly rose from his hiding spot and released his projectile. It hummed when leaving Ratra’s Bow. Wide eyes darted to the luminous shot as it cut through the air. The asuras were too low. The arrow ripped through the four-armed’s chest, and the spikes punched larger holes in his arms and torso. The outer blades shredded the pair of asuras arguing with him, and then Lillin descended on the remnants, making short work of the group. It was no different from taking out bandit mage camps during their expeditions prior to Woodson University. It felt good to be just the two of them.

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