Chapter R3-2: The Courage To Stand Up

(Ride's POV)

 

"We are taking a break here! Scout around and make sure the perimeter is safe!" Khaleel the 'Dragon's Shield' gave his order to the raid.

"Huff Huff," I let out my breath as I dropped down and crouched on the floor.

We managed fought our way to the north gate and cleared all the monsters surrounding the area. So far there hasn't been any casualties yet, so that's a good thing. Well, we do have some injuries but nothing too serious.

"Safest position in the raid huh, what a lie." Scorch let out a word of complaint as he sat down on the rough floor next to me.

"Yeah, there were way too many monsters that managed to get past the first raid, some high-rank ones even," I complained as well.

"Safest. In theory. Don't let your guard down now guys, we are still in a raid." Kranis warned us. A smirk on his face.

Our rogue extraordinaire then went away, taking this chance to scavenge around with the other rogues. Dammit, of course. Obviously, that guy will put us in the 'best spot'. I don't even know why I thought I could take this easy.

"Look at the bright side, guys! At least the guys at the back get to do their jobs without a worry in their minds!" Lanarya let out a word of encouragement.

Lanarya... I think I officially underestimated the girl. It is like what I told the others, we make an excellent team, and she's good with the sword too, better than me even in some aspects. I was a little worried back there, but seeing her in action, made all my worries go away. I think the others are the same opinion as well. Their movements were much more natural as soon as they realised that Lanarya is the real deal and wasn't just a pretty face. I guess there is more to her than meets the eye.

I examined the area around the north gate. Everything is as I remembered it, no, it was even worse. Fallen adventurers were all over the place. This time their bodies were unrecognisable, eaten by the monsters in the city. Dead monsters and their rotting corpses could be seen everywhere around the area too. Luckily it hasn't started to smell that bad. Right in front of the raid, we were blocked by pillars of ice with monsters stabbed on the tip of them. Behind the ice wall was the body of the dead king troll, its face resembled the soup I ate for breakfast. The image of the woman with the azure eyes flashed by me as I witness the troll. I wonder if the woman is still alive? I didn't see her at all in the raid gathering.

"It's a pretty horrible sight, huh," Lanarya said, her body quivered a little.

"Yeah..."

I stood up and walked towards something that caught my eyes, a big size boar that I remembered stabbing my old trusty sword into. To my shock, all I see is a hole in the boar's eyes. My old, trusty sword was nowhere to be found. A feeling of discomfort came up to me as I took another look at the sword in my hands. 

"There must be some powerful mage here yesterday, to make hard blue rocks like this," Lanarya said as she touches the ice pillars.

Rocks? I walked towards one of the pillars and touched it.

I expected it to be cold and wet, but what I got while cold was of another feeling altogether. It was like touching a piece of metal. A very smooth and metallic feel.

This is... not ice! My eyes widened at the action.

"Tyle!" I called over Tyle who was helping others to collect dead bodies so that we may transport them to the encampment.

He heard my call and came over. I then point over to the pillars. seeing me he went over and touched the pillars as well. He too did a double take once he found out the true nature of the pillar.

"Incredible," He said in pure awe. "Stone pillars? No... it's metal, metal rising?"

"Hmm? Is it that incredible?" Lanarya asked with a confused tone.

"You bet it is. I don't even know what kind of spell is this. I thought it was strange that the ice hasn't melted yet, but this... this is pure metal rising from the ground. To even have it shaped like spikes and in such numbers... It is equivalent to at least a grade six spell" A strange voice came from behind.

Another jolt of shock crept up to me as I looked behind only to see Khaleel himself talking to us.

"Sir Khaleel!" Lanarya reverted to her polite self and gave a bow.

"Please, just Khaleel, hahaha. You guys did great back there. It's a load off my back to know we have reliable people like you all guarding our backs." He showered us with praise as he continued to inspect the pillars. "Still, it would be nicer if the person who did this could join us on this raid."

"Do you know anybody who could do such a thing in A'bell?" Tyle asked Khaleel.

"Other than the old geezer, nothing else comes close. Maybe the folks in the inner castle who shot down the two dragons I guess."

Could it be? That the woman be in the castle as well?

"Hey, Khaleel! We gathered all the supplies and collected all the dead bodies we could! But this body, you need to see this!" A man's voice rang out in the distance.

"Looks like I'm needed elsewhere, I'll see you guys around later," Khaleel left and walked over to the man.

...

"Heeeh, I wonder what kind of man was the person who did this?" Lanarya asked with curiosity.

"It was a woman. A woman that was wearing a black coat and had messy hair" I replied to her question.

"Ehh?"

"Yeah, we saw her first hand when we are holding the north gate. She dropped out of nowhere and summoned all these pillars before proceeding to beat the crap out of the king troll." Tyle points at the dead trolls body.

"A King Troll!? Woah!"

"Yeah, if it weren't for her, everybody at the north gate would probably be dead by now."

"Eh? You mean you guys almost died yesterday?"

"Almost is an understatement, our team and a handful of others were like what stands between a king troll and dozens of monsters from killing thousands of A'bell residents." 

"Wow... I heard the situation at the north gate was bad, but I didn't realise it was that bad. I escaped from the west gate you see. It was much safer and had lesser casualties."

"It's probably why they put the S rank in our raid group instead of the full raid at the west gate," Tyle commented.

We continued to look at the pillars in awe.

 

* * * * *

 

We pushed on to the inner castle, all while clearing out the monsters in the city and trying to find survivors and supplies. Any dead bodies we saw, we wrap it up and store it safely at safe locations where we can pick them up on the way back to the encampment or for another day when it's safer to bring a carriage. As we progressed, one could hear the sounds of fighting from farther in the city. It looks like the other raid group met stiff resistance. Compared to the beginning of the raid, the later part of the way to the inner castle on our side was actually pretty lax, there were much fewer monsters roaming around the city on our path, and it was easier to kill them now that the raid was more organized and had time to get used to each other. Still, the continuous sight of mutilated bodies and the lack of living people in the city wears down on our morale.

It took us half a day, but we eventually reached the inner castle — the first of all the four groups to reach from the looks of it. A large translucent bubble wraps around the castle, preventing us from moving further. Khaleel gave us the signal to be prepared before pulling out an orb. The orb glowed bright blue, and waves appeared on the translucent bubble. Khaleel retrieved the orb, and we waited outside the bubble, the monsters long cleared away when we arrive.

I took a closer look at the area around the castle, bodies upon bodies of dead monsters can be seen surrounding the castle. Some of the corpses even look recent. A great battle must have happened throughout the whole night and beyond. Upon closer inspection, you could also see dead castle guards and soldiers.

"Adventurers! There are adventurers outside!" A guard from the inner castle saw us and shouted out loud to the people inside.

Things got loud from inside the castle. Soon the inner castle gates open, and a group of military soldiers came out. Khaleel and the other raid leaders went ahead to greet them while the rest of us continued to stay in position. It took a while before Khaleel, and the others came back to the group. They then called upon the party leaders. Kranis and all the party leaders went over, and a sort of meeting was held. Soon after Kranis came back to the party and told us the plans.

"The soldiers said that there are at least four thousand residents in the castle, we can't escort all of them out of the city with the numbers we have, so the higher up planed that we escort the VIPs out of the cities instead while the other groups will escort or reinforce the castle till we can make sure that it is safe enough to escort everyone else."

"VIPs?" I asked back.

"That's dumb! Thousands of people to save and instead of doing that, we are to escort bigshots out of the city?!" Scorch protested.

"It can't be helped, they are saying it's some crucial figure, and that the VIPs is in a rush and if we don't get them out of the city, bad things will happen to the Rydark."

"The country? What could be so important that even the country is involved?" Tyle shot a question.

"I don't know, I reckon we are about to find out," Kranis answered as he faced the gates of the castle.

I followed his gaze, and my eyes caught upon the sight of a beautiful woman. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the gods themselves sculpted her face. Pointy long ears could be seen from her voluptuous figure. She wore a long garment with various elven inscriptions on it and was escorted by a group of equally beautiful and handsome people. Twelve escorts in total, each of them carrying an expertly crafted bow behind their backs. Each one of the bows had a unique magic inscription on them. The one that Kranis has was nothing compared to theirs. The only thing that the elves have in common with Kranis here was that all of them didn't have a single arrow.

"Elves?" "What are elves doing over here, so far from the Yggdrasil Forest?" "Damn is that a real pure breed elf?" 

Idle murmurs could be heard from all the adventurers present. Some expressed shock while others were excited to see a real elf. I too was shocked myself. I've heard stories of the occasional roaming elf or two, but never in a group like this and especially one that looks as serious as these people. They looked like diplomatic envoys, the crucial looking elf in the middle is probably some high ranking hotshot from Yggdrasil. Elves are so rare outside the Yggdrasil forest and its vicinity, that it's perhaps the first time some of the people here have actually seen one.

As a side note, the first elf I met was a guild receptionist that came over to A'bell for a few months for training. The elf in question is, of course, a male.

"Guess those are our VIPs," Kranis said, breaking the party's daze.

"I can see why would the country be involved now... The last thing Rydark needs is to have hostilities with the elves of Yggdrasil." Tyle fixed his glasses before getting back into position.

"Come on now. We got our orders. Keep your eyes open now guys. The third raid will be covering these elves from now on. The second raid is on its own." Kranis went back into position.

"Alright." "Yes, sir!" "Got it." 

The rest of us replied as we get back into positions to escort the elves out of the city.

 

* * * * *

 

"Uncouth bunch, I don't see why we are to trust these gang of undisciplined heathens," One of the female elves said out loud. So loud that the whole raid group could hear her. Well... that was probably her intention.

"Shawna, please keep it down, they can hear you." The elf in the middle of the escort, the most important looking one, reprimanded the thrash-talking elf.

"Let them hear it, Estna! It's best to let pigs like these know." She waved her hands towards the raid "As expected of humans, they only seek out beauty on the outside but never care about the inside! Anything to satisfy their lust!"

One could see the dissatisfaction on the adventurers all over. I guess it was because the adventurers are eyeing them too much I guess. One could see female adventurers eyeing the handsome elves and male adventurers fantasising about the female elves. It's not all of us, of course. But in a group of a hundred, there was bound to be some perverts. Even so... her insult was uncalled for. We were risking our lives here just to escort this group out of the city. 

I looked to my side only to see a fuming Lanarya. It looked like she's about to give the elf a piece of her mind. Luckily before it could happen.

"Shawna!" The elf known as Estna shouted at the top of her lungs.

"Eeek!" The elf Shawna was taken aback at the intensity of the voice.

"I will not allow you to disparage those warriors that are escorting us any further!"

"But High Priest Estna!" 

"No buts! These are the warriors that fought bravely and risked their lives for those who couldn't fight for themselves! Even now, they risk their lives to save their beloved people! They have all the right to refuse to escort us and yet they did it regardless! Apologise to these noble warriors now!" the high priest elf shouted with intensity. A green aura could be seen emanating from her. Green coloured mana, most commonly found in the elven race.

"..." The elf, Shawna, could only look downwards in shame and anger. The other elves look upon the two with troubled faces.

"I will not budge from this spot until I hear the words of apologies come from your mouth!" The high priestess stubbornly stood there, and the entire raid came to a screeching halt.

What is this drama unfolding in front of me? It's like watching two kids fighting each other. Somehow the beautiful image I had of elves shattered. I looked to the others for their opinion on it, and all I got is a shrug from them, Lanarya was still fuming at the elf, but much less intense than prior.

I sat down on the ground to wait for the elves to finish their business. I then took another good look at the object I'm holding in my hands, the sword. I turned it around and looked at it from every angle I can think off but see nothing special about it. It's a bit heavy for me, but it's quite balanced in the right areas for a person of my built. No matter how I look at it, it's just some ordinary sword... but I can't help but have this uncomfortable feeling welled up inside me. Damn, as soon as I get the rewards from the raid, I'm going to get a new sword...

*HOOOOOWWWWLLLLL!

!!!

I jolted upwards as I heard the deafening howl of a wolf.

"I sense a presence! Something big is coming and fa- ABOVE US!" One of the mages from the fourth raid shouted.

I quickly looked above me and saw the image of a large wolf with jet black fur diving down onto the raid from above.

*CRASH!

The backdraft from the wolf crashing to the ground lifted my body away, and I dropped harshly soon after. 

Urgh...

I didn't know how far back I was flung to. My ears were ringing, and I felt nauseous. I tried to keep my eyes open and looked around. Adventurers all over me, panicking and shouting out orders, but I couldn't hear anything because of the ringing. I must have been very close when the wolf crashed down.

...

The wolf!

I scanned the area and quickly found the wolf in question. A jet black wolf, the size of a building, standing menacingly. Dark aura could be seen emanating from it. Blood could be seen on its claws and jaws, beneath him are adventurers that I couldn't confirm was alive or not. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't seeing this wrong, but another look confirmed my fears. I've heard about it from stories, but I didn't think I'd ever see one with my own eyes. The wolf in front of me is an 'End Wolf', a calamity level monster that is said to rival dragons in terms of sheer destructiveness. 

No way! No way! These things eat armies for breakfast, how are we going to beat it!?

"Monsters on our flank!" The ringing in my ears stopped, and I could hear the panic all over.

I paid attention to behind only to see more wolves coming in from the gaps in the buildings. All sorts of wolves, the tundra grey mane wolf, the desert wolf, and even forest wolves. They surrounded the raid, preventing any of us from escaping. I put strength in my arms and shrug off the pain in my body before standing up. I then picked up my sword that fell to the ground and started running towards the flanks to protect the fourth raid. If there is anything that can beat that wolf down, it's the long-range experts in the fourth raid. Protecting them should be our highest priority.

I ran with haste as I sliced off any wolf that is attacking the fourth raid.

"Ride! Are you alright?" Lanarya appeared beside me as she too joins in on killing the approaching wolves. Her hair is a bit messed up, but overall, she looks alright. Thank goodness.

"Yeah!" I shouted back as I lobbed a wolf's head off.

A wolf tried to attack me from my opening, but Lanarya fends it off. I then stabbed my sword to the wolf, which kills it immediately. Another wolf came, and this time, I protected Lanarya from getting hit, and she lands the killing blow on the wolf. The back and forth continues as we slew more and more wolves. Scorch, Tyle and Kranis soon arrived to help fend off the wolves from hitting the fourth raid, all of them looked to be alright as well.

*HOWL!

The End Wolf howled again, a massive blast of air assaulted us from behind. We managed to hold our ground and withstood the blow, but the same can't be said for the pack of wolves that were upon us a minute ago. All of them were blasted off their feet, some of them landed so harshly that they died on the spot. The small wolves then started to run for dear life, away from the battle. The adventurers could take a short breather, but our focus soon falls upon the End Wolf that was still fighting.

"The Wolf is injured! On its right side!" Khaleel voice resonated across for everyone to hear.

I looked at the End Wolf, and just as he said, there is a large wound shaped in an 'X' on its body on the right side. Black sludge could be seen leaking out of the injury. The wolf was covering for the wound and wasn't able to fight at its peak condition. But even then, it was all Khaleel, and his party could do to hold the wolf down. Adventurers come in from the sides attempting to exploit the wolf newfound weakness only to be swept away by its paws. A single blow is all it needs to send the adventurers flying off.

*Howl!

The wolf charges straight pass Khaleel and his team and towards the group of elves. Was the elves the wolf's aim from the start?

"Protect the High Priestess! With your bodies if you have to! Lord Yggdra demands it!" Shawna, the thrash-talking elf shouted and gave orders to the other elves.

The elves were incredibly disciplined and were already in position before she gave out her orders, The elves on the front pushed out their hands forward, and a triangular barrier appeared in front of them.

*Crash!

The End Wolf's large jaws bite down on the triangular shield, cracks appeared on it, but the barrier held out. The remaining elves drew out their bow and drew magic arrows from thin air before releasing it towards the wolf. The arrows hit the wolf at point-blank range, and the wolf is forced to back away from the elves. As it backs away, large lines of magic attacks bombarded the wolf, courtesy of the fourth raid. The elves saw this and too joined in on the bombardment, releasing magical arrows towards the wolf. 

*Schhwaff! *Boom! *Boom! *Boosh! 

As the bombardment was happening a strong gust of wind blew by, and a massive tornado was formed at the wolf's location. Giant fireballs then flew towards the whirlwind and the tornado lit of fire. A hot fiery pillar of wind is formed with the wolf inside it. My hopes were high because it appeared to be a strong magic attack. I could feel the hot flames on my skin from over here. Hopefully, an attack like that could deal with the wolf.

*Howl!!

My hopes were shattered when the wolf howls once again. The fiery tornado dispersed forcefully, and the wolf could be seen with little to no damage on it. 

What the hell? All that and nothing?! If that couldn't harm the wolf, then what can?! A feeling of fear crept up to me as I shudder to think what would happen if we can't kill this wolf while it's still injured.

How did it get injured in the first place? Nothing seems to be able to damage this wolf. I wondered about the kind of attack that caused the wound that we were seeing on the wolf. 

*Zsst

A familiar zapping sound interrupts my thoughts. I looked around, trying to find the source of the sound before stopping onto High Priestess Estna, green aura radiates around her as she floats on a large green magic circle. What looks to be Shawna and another elf, near the edge of the circle providing mana and more cantations. Estna was holding a ball of lightning on the palm of her hands that was growing larger as she continues to cast her magic.

"Radiant Arrow!" She then shouted the spell's name as she points her hand towards the wolf.

*ZAP! *POW!

The thundering sound of lightning could be heard as the green lightning bolt grazes the wolf; a long line of burnt skin could be seen on the wolf's body. The wolf with incredible speed avoided a vast bulk of the lightning bolt. Enraged, the wolf tried to lunge towards the elves only to be blocked by Khaleel and his party. The adventurers of the first raid unrelentingly assaulted the wolf to buy time for the elves to charge up another attack. The other raids soon followed, and everyone assaulted the wolf, including us.  Screams of injured adventurers could be heard as more and more people get blasted back by the sheer power the wolf has.

Swords bounced off its fur. Magic attacks did nothing to the wolf. The Adventurers that tried blocking the wolf simply got pushed aside by the building size wolf's assault. Despite our attacks having no effect on the wolf, we kept up at it. Deep inside, we all knew if we couldn't beat the wolf, then we are all as good as dead.

"Radiant Arrow!" Estna shouted once again and launched another bolt of lightning towards the wolf, but the wolf dodged yet again.

"Once again!" Estna shouted to the other elves around her.

"But High Priestess!'

"If we don't defeat this wolf now, then everyone here will die! Another one!" the High Priestess Estna shouted before starting to cast yet another spell. The other elves saw this and began chanting as well.

....

It's no use. Doesn't matter how many times they charge it if they can't hit it. 

Dammit, are we going to die here?

...

"Ride!" A soft, gentle voice woke me up from my stupor.

I looked over to my side and saw determined golden yellow eyes staring at me.

"Do you know the sword skill, 'Cross Slash'?" 

Cross Slash. A grade 4 sword skill that strikes the opponents with two quick swings to form an X. I know the concept of it, but I never got it to work the way I want it. My precision with sword skills wasn't the best.

"Yeah, but it's no use, it will just bounce off the wolf," I told Lanarya bluntly.

"Not if you hit the injured part of the wolf! The cross on the sides!"

The cross on the side of the wolf! Of course! 

"But... No way I could get close enough to land a hit on that..." 

"Leave that to me!" Lanarya said as her sword glowed with yellow.

"What? How are you going t-"

"Just trust me!" She said with a smile as she started running towards the End Wolf.

A quick memory of last night flashed before my eyes as I remembered the words I told her. 'Teamwork and trust aren't built in a day!'

Heh, how funny, but it looks like it's going to have to be built in one day after all.

"Uwoooo!" I let out a battle cry as I ran behind Lanarya, my blade glowed red as I get ready to unleash the sword skill 'Cross Slash'. The wolf heard my cry and turned to face us. Seeing us charging at it, it raises its right claw to swipe down on us. I promptly ignored the wolf's preparation and kept going full speed towards it. Lanarya said she will handle it. I concentrated entirely on charging my blade with more mana, as much mana as I could. The sword grew brighter and brighter.

'Oi! The hell are you guys do-" Khaleel panicked as he saw the two of us rushing towards the wolf. 

The wolf swipes its paws at us before Khaleel could finish his sentence. 

"Iron Body!" Lanarya shouted her spell just in the nick of time and adjusted her body and her sword to take the full blow of the wolf.

*CLANG!

The two collided before coming into a full stop. As Lanarya promised, an opening for me to strike the wolf appeared. Wasting no time, I immediately slipped by Lanarya and unleashed my wrath on the wolf.

"Cross Slash!" I shouted as I swung my sword vertically before making a fast spin and swung my sword downwards, forming an X on the wolf's X shaped wound.

The wolf wailed in pain from the attack. More black sludge came out of its wounds.

...

But it wasn't enough. The wolf strikes me directly with its hind legs, and I fell. Hard.

The wolf aura became more intense as it raised its claws upwards to crush me with it. Lanarya appeared once again in front of me to block the strike, but I could tell she was in no shape to take another blow.

Just like what happened to me yesterday at the north gate. Time slowed down to a crawl. I could see every detail, but I couldn't move fast enough. I tried my damn hardest, but my hands move just as slow as the claw that was falling on Lanarya.

"Stand up."

Just as things were about to end, I heard a voice. I didn't know where the voice was coming from, nor do I know who or what it was. But it grew stronger.

"Stand up, or the girl will die."

Do you think I don't want to stand up?! I can't! I can't move fast enough!

"Then she will die because you aren't strong enough."

...

"Everyone here will die because you refuse to stand up."

Something inside me shattered as I heard those words. In anger, I held my sword very firmly and suddenly, I could move again. I was shocked but I didn't ask too many questions. Without hesitation, I pushed Lanarya out of the way of the incoming claw.

*Bash!

The claw hit the ground and time moved as usual again. By luck, I am once again, back at the sides of the wolf. A large X shape wound that was currently oozing out black sludge was in front of me. I immediately stabbed my sword into the wolf's wounds and held on to the sword for dear life.

The wolf screamed in agony as it trashed around in pain, trying to get me off. I doubled down and pushed even further into the wound, more and more black sludge gushes out. I kept driving the sword deeper and deeper into the wound when I suddenly hit something hard inside the wolf. I pushed further, and I heard a loud cracking sound from inside the wolf. The wolf howled in pure agony as it just stood there with me on its right side.

"Radiant Arrow!"

A bolt of lightning hits the wolf head-on. The wolf unable to dodge due to the intense pain of having a sword stuck deep inside its body. An explosion soon happened, and I got blasted away from the wolf. Like a ragdoll, I was flung away and landed harshly on the ground. The last thing I saw was the body of the End Wolf missing a head and my sword stuck to the sides of the wolf. It glowed red and purple eerily.

A loud cheer rang out among the adventurers as I fade to black.

 

* * * * *

 

"To today's successful raid and Ride's promotion to B rank!" Scorch yell out with glee.

"Cheers!" I raised my glass and clinked it with 4 other drinks in celebration.

We drank our beverages in one shot before letting out a satisfying sound. This celebration was long overdue, and I had to face death himself twice before I got to celebrate my promotion to B rank. It was night, and we were in the makeshift guild tent after returning from a successful raid from the city. I blacked out during the last parts of the assault, but from what I've heard, everyone made it out alive from the End Wolf's attack on us. There were some serious injuries, but nothing a high-rank adventurer can't handle. By the time I woke up, it was already sunset, and everyone had returned from the city. I was heralded as some sort of hero the moment I woke up though. It was quite... the refreshing experience, I say. 

I also heard that the stuck up elf, Shawna gave a genuine apology after the End Wolf was defeated. The High Priestess Estna herself commended on my bravery before she and her group of elite elves left the encampment to go home to Yggdrasil. Too bad I wasn't awake to witness any of this.

It was also when I was sleeping that Lanarya gave our party a name.  'Providence' she called it. When I ask her why such a name, she just responded 'Because it's cool! Just like the people inside of it!'. I don't really understand, but I guess she likes calling herself cool, I think.

"Man, you two were freaking awesome today!" Kranis exclaimed happily.

"It was dangerous as hell though, but I can't deny how great the teamwork between the two of you was," Tyle said. A soft smile on his face.

"Hahaha! You definitely surprised me when both of you started charging at that wolf."

"Ehehehe" I blushed as I scratch the back of my head. I'm not used to all these praising stuff, but it does feel good.

"See! I told you all we were amazing as a team!" Lanarya declared.

The truth is, I've only ever fought with Lanarya today, that lie that I told the others this morning... I don't think we will ever reveal it, huh... I glanced towards Lanarya as she happily bragged about our teamwork. Our eyes then met, and she gave me a wink.

Cute...

I guess this will be our little secret then.