Final Fantasy Frontier 101 (Patreon)

Though they were ambushed by the Urutan-Yensa and their ichthian, fish-like mounts several times, the party's trek through the Ogir and Nam-Yensas was smoother than most. Merely being resistant to the heat was a tremendous boon, but thanks to Andrew, they had an abundance of food, water, and other supplies that made the journey easier.

Embodying this sentiment more than anyone else, Vaan was in high spirits as he walked several meters ahead of the group as they passed through a cave system, keen to be the first to spot and defeat any Fiends that might appear. He desperately desired the strength to live and do as he pleased, so he was eager to acquire as much AP and LP as possible before losing access to Andrew's system.

"Full of pep, that one," said Balthier, walking with the barrel of his gun resting on his shoulders.

"Indeed," replied Basch, smiling as he added, "It gives me hope for the future."

"Oh...?" chimed Balthier, giving Basch a sidelong look as he commented, "If you ask me, it's the opposite. Recklessness doesn't just put oneself in danger."

"Perhaps," admitted Basch. "However, when a situation requires action, it is better to have at least one person willing to take it. Vaan is young, but if he sets his mind to it, he could become a pillar of Dalmasca."

Hearing Basch's words, a conflicted look marred Ashe's face. Vaan was the one that encouraged her to jump and ultimately caught her when she was fleeing Imperials in the Garamsythe Waterway. She didn't approve of him stealing from the Palace Treasury or his chosen path as a Sky Pirate, but his willingness to imperil himself for others, while reckless, merited at least a modicum of respect.

"Uwaaaah...!"

Dodging back just as a viscous green Slime fell from the ceiling, Vaan prepared to blast it with a basic Fire Spell, but the Alert Ability Andrew had insisted he learn and equip told him he wasn't out of danger just yet.

Slimes, amorphous Flan-type Fiends, were opportunistic pack hunters, so six others fell from cavities they had formed in the limestone ceiling after the first dropped. One nearly landed right on top of Vaan, but he managed to leap to the side, rolling to safety before bounding back to his feet and waving his right hand, releasing a trio of tiny homing fireballs.

*sizzle* *sizzle* *crack*

Unfortunately, while Vaan was delighted to be able to use even the most basic of Magick Spells, his Magick Attack parameter was nothing to write home about. Thus, while his Fire Spell impacted the center of one of the Slime's faces, it only caused the amorphous creature's flesh to sizzle a bit before extinguishing.

Coming to Vaan's aid, Penelo kept the slow-moving Slimes from pursuing him by bombarding them with icy projectiles. Her raw Magick Attack was actually lower than Vaan's, but due to her equipment and the mastered Ice Materia infused in her Ninja Armlet, she was able to temporarily freeze the gelatinous creatures as they were far more vulnerable to ice than fire.

"Stand aside...!" shouted Ashe, brandishing an ornate, bluish-green Mithril longsword covered in a runic pattern. The blade was nearly as long as she was tall, but its weight was closer to that of a dagger. More importantly, it had tiny circular grooves forming triangles on both sides of its crossguard, each housing a different Materia.

"I can handle it...!" protested Vaan, but Ashe didn't heed him. Instead, as she amassed magickal energy around her, drawing it from the Mist in the cave, four icy javelins formed around her, rapidly growing to nearly 3m in length before she thrust her sword in the direction of the Slimes, causing them to surge forward at high speeds.

"At least wait for me to move...!" shouted Vaan, dodging out of the way as the spears of ice impacted the Slimes, exploding to create flowery plumes of jagged ice. Ashe was second to Fran in terms of Magick Attack, but the difference between them was only 23 points. Considering the disparity in their ages, it wasn't an exaggeration to state that Ashe's Magick potential was the highest in the group, excluding Andrew. Unfortunately, she had been oblivious to this fact before seeing her Status. As a result, she had dedicated the past two years to swordsmanship, unaware that she would have made much greater strides pursuing Magick.

Exhaling a large cloud of vapor, Ashe preempted Vaan's grousing by firmly stating, "You should be more mindful. A scout that permits themselves to be ambushed is a liability."

Clicking his tongue, Vaan crossed his arms and rolled his eyes but wisely decided against protesting Ashe's words. He still obtained AP and LP by entering combat and being near when the fiends were defeated, so he let Ashe's words go in through one ear and out the other as he made his way over the impromptu ice sculpture, securing the frozen corpses in his Item Box for later harvesting. He had heard that oil could be extracted from the bodies of recently-deceased Slimes and sold for a significant profit, so he couldn't just leave them to vanish or be devoured by other fiends...

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After traversing the cave system for nearly seven hours, Andrew and company passed through a temple complex connecting to an open area where it looked like someone had 'cut' away a large section of a rocky plateau to house Raithwall's Tomb. The walls had worn away with time but were hundreds of meters tall and relatively straight. As for the tomb, it was a titanic, predominately grey structure of Galtaen design, built during an age where technology and innovation exceeded even modernity.

Preceding the peculiar, somewhat eerie-looking complex was an area of neatly compact sand and a promenade flanked by ten stone columns. A vast network of tunnels and what looked like an ancient city encircled the tomb, built into the plateau's base, but they were completely abandoned despite the site having existed for more than seven hundred years, during which countless treasure hunters had trespassed, the vast majority never to be seen again.

"Raithwall's Tomb..." muttered Ashe, staring at her ancestor's crypt with a mix of awe, reverence, and fear. The tomb was hostile to anyone without a direct tie to Raithwall's lineage and the means to prove it, so there was a good chance it would attempt to repel her as she presently lacked such proof.

"It'll be okay," assured Andrew, placing his hand on Ashe's shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze. When she invariably turned to look up at him, he afforded her a faint smile and appended, "Every path you walk brings you one step closer to reclaiming your throne. All you need to consider is the type of Queen you wish to become. Move forward and make decisions with that image in mind, and even if you have regrets, you'll inevitably end up at your chosen destination."

Nodding her head, Ashe was about to respond to Andrew's words when the startled shout of Vaan echoed through the area, drawing their gazes to the sight of the sandy-haired youth evading the diving swipe of a bird-like creature with distinct, wyvern-like features, its body glowing with a brilliant sheen. It was only around 3m long, including its meter-long neck and vicious maw, consisting of a mix between a crowned beak and teeth, but it exuded a powerful aura that caused the surrounding temperature to shoot up.

Flapping its leathery, four-segmented wings, which were rose-colored beneath their golden sheen, the monster sent a visible wave of heat at Vaan, inflicting him with first and second-degree burns as he was sent tumbling back several tens of meters. He managed to shield his face and regain his footing, but he lost his grip on his sword, causing his Physical and Magickal Attack to plummet as he extended both hands and shouted, "Eat fire...!" despite the creature seeming to possess an innate affinity for the element.

Fortunately for Vaan, the shimmering fiend, known as a Garuda, wasn't attuned to fire. Instead, it was an exceptionally rare, borderline legendary creature attuned to the Holy element. Unfortunately, as it was anathema to wyverns and other fire-breathing serpents, it just shrieked and flapped its wings in response to having its body and face blasted with tiny motes of fire.

Sparing Vaan from becoming bird chow, at least for a short while, Penelo sent her chakrams flying, one missing completely but the other cutting a hole in the Garuda's wings, causing it to roar and shift its attention to her. At that exact moment, Balthier unloaded a volley of explosive elemental rounds on it, enveloping it in plumes of fire, ice, and lightning.

Realizing it wasn't dealing with an average group of grave robbers, the Garuda, which had been guarding the tomb since Raithwall's era, flew high into the sky, spreading its wings at the apex of its ascent. As it did so, a burst of light whose radiance dwarfed the sun filled the area in an instant, causing the surrounding stone to glow as the sand covering the ground coagulated into glassy beads that were pushed to the edges of the clearance by the intense heat and pressure.

After maintaining its luminance for nearly twenty seconds, the Garuda retracted its wings, its body appearing noticeably dimmer as it flapped desperately to keep itself in the air. Against any ordinary intruders, such an attack would have killed or, at the very least, left them blind. As such, the Garuda felt a chill permeate its body when it looked down and found each of its opponents still standing, staring up at it as if they were none the worse for wear.

What the Garuda didn't know was that at the time of its ascent, Andrew raised a magic barrier. Its attack succeeded in temporarily blinding Vaan and even Basch, but that was nothing Blindna couldn't fix. It would have blinded Ashe, Penelo, and Fran as well, but the former duo was protected by the Ribbon effect while the latter's bow made her immune to the Blind Status Effect.

Taking advantage of said bow's other properties, Fran unleashed an arrow that flew much faster than a conventional projectile, impacting the Garuda in the center of its chest. The large, cone-shaped, black-tipped arrow only managed to pierce a few centimeters into the Garuda's hide, but that was more than enough as it promptly exploded, enveloping the thought-to-be-extinct avian in a cloud of fiery destruction before its body could be seen plummeting to the ground.

"Leave this one to me...!" exclaimed Vaan, rushing forward with the intent to finish the Garuda off. Before he could, Andrew appeared in front of him, blocking his path with a relaxed smile, shaking his head, and stating, "Rein in your chocobos." Ordinarily, he wouldn't have batted an eye to the killing of a dangerous fiend, but Ashe asked him to intervene.

"Hey! What gives...!?" exclaimed Vaan, having learned from experience that powerful fiends rewarded considerably more AP and LP than their feebler counterparts. They had killed a creepy turtle halfway through the cave passage, and the beast rewarded them with 35 AP and LP in a single go. That fiend was much weaker than the Garuda, so Vaan was hoping for at least 50. And then there was the value of such a rare corpse...

"Princess's orders," said Andrew, wearing a deadpan expression as he cleaned his right ear with his pinky. This annoyed Vaan considerably, but he didn't say anything further. Instead, he kicked the dirt, turned around, and stormed off, passing next to Ashe in a huff.

Observing Vaan as he passed, Ashe resisted the urge to apologize and made her way to Andrew, whispering, "Thank you..." before walking by him and approaching the injured Garuda. Her ancestors viewed The holy bird as a guardian deity, representing the Sun and the Dynast King, so she was reluctant to take its life. Thus, as the Garuda stared at her through its narrowed eyes, unable to move, Ashe knelt beside it, using Cura to slowly mend its wounds...

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