R-a - Volume 3 - Chapter 29 (Patreon)

R-a - Chapter 187 (In editing-v1)

As Micheal began his journey to traverse the Dragon Mountains, deep within that very same mountain range, a creature was stirring.

More than 200 miles (320 km) from Micheal, an ordinary-looking mountain existed. This mountain was lightly coated in fog and looked little different from its neighbors. It was grey, dotted with plants and trees in its lower area, coated in ice on its higher area.

If there was one single thing that set this ordinary looking mountain apart from its neighbors, it would have to be that there was a rather large cave sequestered behind a few dozen trees near the base of this mountain.

The entrance to this cave wasn’t enormous. It was about 3 meters tall and only a couple of meters wide. Glowing blue mushrooms faintly lit the cave up, granting it a small amount of light that could be seen from outside.

A small, Blue-Eared Goat was currently staring at this cave from just a dozen meters distant. This Magic Beast stood a full 2 meters tall and was covered in white fur, with two distinctive blue ears, two things that set it apart from a normal goat. It had a pair of small horns and beady blue eyes that never blinked as it stared at this mysterious cave.

“Chrr?” The Low-Tier Magic Beast turned its head to the side as it began to take a few steps forward, drawn to this dark cave. Its eyes flicked to the right and left tentatively, as if unsure.

It crept closer and closer, unable to help itself.

Just when it was about to enter the cave, the Blue-Eared Goat froze for a second. It titled its head for several seconds as it looked into the dark cave, indecisiveness once again swarming it. Tension built up in its stance, as if it felt like it was in danger.

Finally, the large goat made a decision.

It stuck a single hooded foot inside the cave.

“…”

“…”

“…”

Nothing happened.

“Chrr?” The Magic Beast exhaled, its body relaxing.

The moment it did that, the goat’s body froze up once more.

A heartbeat later…

The goat died.

All of its skin, muscles, organs, and tissue wilted away in an instant. The entire life force of the Blue-Eared Goat was instantly stolen, causing the creature’s body to collapse, leaving behind only a withered skeleton.

As the desiccated body of the Low-Tier Magic Beast fell to the floor, a rumbling sound rang out. This noise echoed throughout the cave, quiet waves that soaked into the rock and stone of the mountain itself.

After a couple of seconds, that rumbling noise stopped.

It was replaced by a light tapping.

That tapping grew louder and louder, methodic thuds that echoed out in a repeating pattern.

Finally, after several seconds, the tapping paused.

A moment later…

A walking skeleton emerged from the shadows of the cave.

This skeleton had a frail humanoid appearance, beyond the fact that it was just made of bones. It wore a once-resplendent purple robe and a stained white necklace, both looking as if they were just a few days away from dissipating. It stood a little higher than the average human, at roughly 1.9 meters tall.

On the skeleton’s white forehead was a black circle with an ‘x’ engraved within it. This symbol glowed ever so faintly in the noon light, but otherwise gave off nothing else.

“…this is what woke me?” The skeleton’s voice warbled out of its mouth, a grating tone that must’ve been powered by some type of magic.

“No…” The skeleton bent down as it examined the Blue-Eared Goat’s corpse. It picked the dead body up for a few seconds before casually tossing it to the side.

“No, it’s coming to me now.” The skeleton took several steps forward as the Blue-Eared Goat’s skeleton hit the cave wall and dissipated into dust.

Despite the fact that the skeleton’s face was unable to show emotion, it gave off a feeling of intense glee as it clapped its hands together.

“A Toren… I sensed the presence of a Toren!” The skeleton cackled out loud,

“Finally, after all these years, I can escape these cursed mountains.” Its face gave off a rictus of a smile as it attempted to grin.

“It’s not that broken freak either, it’s a different Toren that I might be able to take. It felt pretty weak…” The skeleton talked to itself as it walked out of its cave and then sat down on the ground.

There was a small clearing between the cave entrance and the surrounding grove of trees, just enough room for a large boulder to sit out, wedged in the open. The skeleton sat atop this boulder as its eyes began to glow, a series of strange words uttered from its mouth.

“Hasin… soroth… talsumna…” Motes of light began to flutter around its head, shining down with blue light.

A bright flash of azure energy shot out from its eyes, crackling out loud in the air. This energy vanished after a few seconds, leaving the elated skeleton alone in silence.

“Huh?” The skeleton’s happiness seemed to freeze over as it stuttered to a halt.

“I can’t… I can't get a trace on it?” The undead being seemed to be at a complete loss. It could vaguely sense a Toren’s presence to the west… but it couldn’t actually pinpoint a location.

“NONSENSE!”

A loud yell ripped free from its mouth, carrying with it a huge wave of explosive energy. The boulder the skeleton was sitting on exploded into stone shards while the nearby trees were blasted to smithereens. A huge, 10-meter wide crater formed as waves of light pulsated around the undead skeleton.

“HASIN… SOROTH… TALSUMNA!” The skeleton recast its magic chant from before as it stood in the smoldering crater it had formed.

Just like the previous time blue light glowed out from its eyes. And, just like before, the skeleton stuttered to a halt.

“Bastard Torens…” A dangerous silence swept over the skeleton. Tension began to build up as it stood there, its fists clenched. Blue energy began to swirl around its arms and legs, glowing out from its eyes once more.

Its body began to tremble.

“I’ll hunt you down and shred you myself!” The skeleton’s voice built up to a crescendo, causing the nearby air to shake once more.

Right after that…

It transformed into a dragon.

A huge, undead dragon.

Its slightly above average stature rapidly expanded as it grew to stand a huge 8 meters tall, with a body that was longer than 15 meters. It had two massive, boney wings that ended with hooked spikes. Two long, pointed horns adorned its reptilian head, hundreds of jagged teeth edging across its mouth.

Unlike a normal dragon, it had no scales, muscle, or tissue. Instead, it was composed entirely of stark, white bones with black claws and teeth. Blue light glowed out from its eyes, giving it an ethereal appearance that looked incredibly intimidating.

“You can’t hide forever!” Its voice transformed to a huge, massive roar as it crouched on its hind legs, bending forward.

A moment later, the rocky mountain ground exploded in a spiderweb of cracked stone as it shot up into the air. Its boney wings, despite having no skin or muscle, were somehow able to keep the creature aloft, letting it soar up into the sky.

The undead dragon then began to fly in the general direction of the Tansol Pass.

.. .. .. .. .. ..

A thin layer of fog coated the rocky walls off to Micheal’s left and right as he followed his Guide. Eerie growls and odd, warbling echoes bounced through the air, giving this long, stone path a vaguely unsettling feel.

It had been an hour since he, and the rest of his group, had left Tansol City and entered the Tansol Pass.

Reaching the Pass had been quite easy. After they left the Leaving Courtyard, it was a short, 5-minute walk to the North Gate, and then from there they jogged for about 10 minutes before reaching the entrance to the Pass.

Because it was noon, the sun was at its highest peak up overhead. With it beating down on them, the magical fog that shrouded the Dragon Mountains was weakened slightly, dissipating under the natural fury of the blazing star above.

The Tansol Pass started at the foot of one of the mountains within the Dragon Mountains. However, instead of sliding between two mountains down a valley, or crossing over a mountain, or something like that, the Pass had a rather unique setup.

The first part of it was found by walking into a man-made cave, bored through the center of a mountain.

This was the start of the pass. By following this unnatural cavern, one could safely traverse from the outer edge of the Dragon Mountains to a point roughly 10 miles deep.

The outer edge of the Dragon Mountains was where the most Magic Beasts could be found. The deeper one went into this range, the more scarce Magic Beasts became. However, at the same time, the more powerful Magic Beasts became as well.

By completely avoiding the outer edge of the Dragon Mountains, they were able to dodge a large number of Magic Beasts and skip past any type of early combat.

They were also able to move pretty fast when underground, where the need for caution was much lower. As a result, it had only taken around 20 minutes for them to cross through the tunnel section of the Pass. After that, they had found themselves on the lower edge of one of the fog-enshrouded mountains.

Because the fog wasn’t as concentrated, many Magic Beasts chose to rest during this period of time. The magical fog that covered the Dragon Mountains acted as a sort of ‘energy blanket’ for Magic Beasts. They could absorb energy from it to actively increase their strength, health, and energy level, becoming more powerful as time went on.

By resting when the fog was thin, they could conserve their active energy for later, only moving about when the fog was concentrated. This wasn’t a conscious decision by most Magic Beasts, but ingrained instinct built up over thousands of years, picking out the most optimal survival route.

It was also part of why very few Magic Beasts left this mountainous region. To them, fogless areas were akin to a desert, a barren area where survival and improvement would become more difficult. The fact that Magic Herbs, one of the staples of a Magic Beast’s diet, could only be found in areas like the Dragon Mountains added to that reasoning.

An hour into their journey and Micheal had yet to even see a Magic Beast. They were currently following a winding path along the edge of one mountain, sticking low to the ground as they furtively crept by.

All things considered, he was feeling pretty great. Everything was going perfectly.

‘Come on now…’ His gaze never wavered as he kept up a stringent lookout, constantly scanning his environment.

‘Just 5 hours left…’

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