Chapter 21 - Manzitore (Patreon)

Despite the instinctive fear of seeing the fire for the cooking pot, she headed straight for that deliciously smelling aroma. She did give the baskets full of the still glowing moss a wary look, though. She doubted they would have had the fire if it was about to send everything up in flames, though.

Elania blew eagerly on the steaming bowl of stew she'd received. She had ignored the surprised look on the man's face when she had asked for some. She wasn't sure what that was about; the two demons she'd encountered so far had not seemed to have any issue with eating.

The picture of the giant stack of bones she had encountered in the ruined building that had belonged to the 'Bone Demon' made her shiver.

'Shouldn't think of something like that just before eating! Ugh.'

Before she took her first bite, she glanced at the monks, who were eating as well. Marcus had stepped out to do something. She felt a bit of disappointment at that; she had hoped to question him more. Well, surely he wasn't the only source of information.

The closest monk was one of the older ones. She'd realized that most of them were not that old, maybe in their mid or late teens. She was only 20 herself, but placing them at high-school age made her feel a lot older. So she focused on the older one.

"Hello, I'm Elania."

Her smile disappeared when the man looked at her then looked away, seemingly trying to avoid answering.

"Hey, what's your name?"

He looked back at her, looking unhappy at the realization he wasn't going to be able to avoid a conversation.

"Taniel."

Her smile reappeared, and she did her best to be polite, despite the annoyance at his attitude.

"Hey… I'm kind of new to this whole 'Demon' thing, so I have a few questions."

"I shouldn't talk to you. You're an unbound demon, the conclave is strict about not consorting with demons."

"I'm not trying to 'consort' with you, I just have some questions. Besides all your friends are right here listening to our every word. They'll be able to attest there was no 'consorting' involved."

The other monks that had thought they had been stealthy in their watching the exchange suddenly were looking away, and Taniel let out a sigh.

"Fine. What question did you want to ask?"

"Is it really safe to have the cookfire here with the [Glow-Moss] so close?"

"Eh? That's what you wanted to ask? Why would it be dangerous?"

"Isn't it flammable?"

"Not particularly, no. It's reactive to mana, which is why it's so valuable as an alchemical ingredient."

Elania frowned. She had got that part wrong then, and campfires would have been perfectly safe, although she realized since she hadn't been cold or planning on cooking anything, the lack of one hadn't been that detrimental, but...

Somehow the idea of being able just to have campfires pleased her.

Still, she eyed the baskets warily, telling herself that she needed to be more careful not to start any more mana-induced wildfires.

Taniel started to look away, but he thought he would get off with only answering that then he was mistaken.

"Do Darkwalkers normally attack places like the village?"

"That--- No, not normally. Darkwalkers are one of the deep predators that stay in the caverns below. Normally they only come up to hunt periodically in small numbers. We aren't sure what made them so active, but something probably disturbed their nest and drove them out."

Elania bit her lip and turned her focus back to the food. She thought she had a good idea of what had caused the entire mess, but she couldn't be sure that she was to blame.

Taniel was still watching her with a bit of incredulity as Elania took in the wonderful smell of the food she gave her spoon a final blow before taking a bite.

Suddenly she tensed up, her eyes widening. Elania managed to chew and swallow the bite--- barely. Despite how good the smell told her the food was supposed to be, it tasted like dirt. What should have been a rich sauce and something like a wonderful steamy hot potato was a wet, goopy, and mildly disgusting dirt.

"Never saw a demon who enjoyed cooked food."

The pile of bones flashed through her mind, and she put Taniel's words together. Cooked food. She'd only enjoy food if it was raw?

"I... I'm sorry, it smelled so good, I didn't..."

'It's so unfair, it smells so good, and I wanted something nice.'

"I can't eat it." Elania felt miserable and didn't look at the monk as she handed the bowl back. It would have been a waste if she tried to force herself.

Her intent hadn't been to make the monk feel sorry for her, but the previous disdain seemed to disappear, and there even appeared to be some sympathetic looks from the others.

"We don't carry raw meat, but we can probably hunt some things at each rest camp."

"No, no. That's fine. I don't actually need food to sustain myself."

That was the wrong thing to say because suddenly, whatever bridge she had started to build between them disintegrated. Maybe it was the reminder that she was a demon.

Not wanting to disturb their meal, she decided to look for Marcus and see if she could prod him for more answers.

---

Elania kept pace behind Marcus with Taniel and Tanyan leading the monks behind her. She wasn't sure what the purpose of putting her second in line was, but she suspected it was because the monks wanted to keep an eye on her.

That suited her purposes just fine, Marcus was the most likely to answer her questions, and the novice monks had avoided talking to her altogether.

Their destination was the city of Neftasu, and apparently, it had a whole series of way posts, and travelers camps spread through the region for parties like theirs. The fact that flora and fauna of the caves frequently changed the caverns' layout meant there weren't any set roads in the Underdark.

Instead, most relied on guides who traveled frequently enough to keep up with any changes to a growing and stupidly complex web of way-stations. Darkwalkers weren't the only predator or danger, and traveling the Underdark was a perilous undertaking apparently, so it underlined just how important this [Glow-Moss] was to the group. Healing potions, mana potions, energy potions… Elania could see the appeal, although apparently they were so expensive that only the very wealthy could afford them.

Apparently, the [Glow-Moss] didn't grow anywhere there was a sizable population. 'Probably because it ends up vaporizing if someone spills mana on it.'

After all the ordeals earlier, the hike wasn't that arduous; she found it easy to keep the pace, even with her power level low. It was slowly creeping up, but she had managed to acquire a bedroll and had stuffed it inside of it. The insulation seemed to help her from absorbing the 'Power' too fast.

She didn't want to drain the Mana Shard, not until she knew if it could be recharged somehow, or she could get another one. Overcharging her 'Power' slightly and increasing it more might have been a good idea if she wanted to get stronger quickly, but she was apprehensive about the long-term.

"So, acquiring a lot of a single essence will turn me into what it came from?"

"Generally, yes. Although it would take a lot of concerted effort, the majority of your 'Power' would have to be compatible. I'm told it is like a compulsion, you become whatever you absorb. That is why I'm surprised you didn't totally become a Darkwalker Demon, you must have a strong sense of self or familiarity with your current form."

"I was born human! Of course I have a lot of familiarity with my current form!"

There was no answer to that, and she realized that they didn't believe her. Suddenly the uncomfortableness of the monks made sense to her. 'They think I absorbed people until I became human!'

"Why don't you believe me?"

"Humans aren't summoned from other worlds, they come from Eladu."

"Everyone in my world was definitely hu..."

Marcus raised a hand and cut her off with a quick hush. The whole party came to a standstill, everyone suddenly becoming fully alert.

Elania heard the noise just as Marcus suddenly was urging them against a cave wall.

"Flatten yourselves!"

Hooves. It sounded like a stampede of thousands of hooves, and the roar was quickly getting louder. The group found a usable indent along the wall.

It was a herd of Ralfots, the largest she had yet seen, hurling themselves down the tunnel. Despite their speed, Elania realized she had no trouble tracking the movements of specific ones she focused on.

The strongest of the beasts passed them first, then the mid-sized ones. One smashed into one of the novice monks, pushing him back and smashing his nose on the rock.

Elania could smell the blood immediately. 'What the fuck?'

The massive herd continued to pass them up, slowly thinning out. No one else got hurt, and Elania did her best to ignore the injured man and focus on the Ralfots. There the back were a few smaller ones that seemed to be having a hard time keeping up with the herd.

Elania suddenly realized she was leaning forward, having already measured the distance and trajectory she needed to pounce on one. She felt her muscles tense up; she was ready, it was time...

A hand fell on her shoulder, and she froze, looking to her side; Marcus shook his head.

'The Darkwalker essence is still affecting me... was it triggered by the herd?'

He swallowed and stilled herself.

"Come on, we need to get out of here before what was chasing them catches up, there isn't... Dammit. You fool!"

Marcus glared at the monk with the bloody nose. Elania didn't think there was much to do about that, Tanyan was wiping the blood away with a bandage, but she had thought he'd use some magic. His class was [Holy Monk], but apparently not.

A sudden roar had Elania pulling free a javelin, and the others also whipped around to look at the source.

Elania found herself more immune to gawking at all the strange things she'd been seeing, but as she took in the tan-colored fur of the three heads, and what seemed to be giant bat wings, she couldn't help herself.

[Manzitore]

It flew past the group, seemingly intent on chasing the Ralfots when suddenly it banked and came to a sudden halt. It landed smoothly, then whipped around and let loose another roar, seemingly directed at the bloodied novice.

"Taniel! Get the others to the campsite. Now!"

The monks scattered, and the beast began to pursue, but Marcus already had his bow out and an arrow readied. Elania's eyes widened when the arrow suddenly burst into a blue flame when it launched itself at the [Manzitore] and adjusted its flight in midair to slam into an eye on its middle head.

She started to raise her weapon and throw it too, but a hand caught her shoulder.

"Mundane weapons aren't going to hurt that, get going with the others or you're going to die!"