[Kara] Chapter 41: Hunt (Start of Book 2) (Patreon)

It was just another ordinary day at Riverwolf. Birds were singing, and bees were buzzing. The sky was spotless, devoid of clouds. The sun hung brilliantly atop the center of the blue dome and cast its light over the bustling town. 

Well, to call Riverwolf a town was a stretch. At most, it could be considered a large village. It had a population of just over a thousand, whether it be [Farmers] or [Merchants] or even [Warriors]— humans from all walks of life.

While it wasn’t a massive city, it still attracted quite a few beginner adventurers who sought to grow stronger for far more grand quests. Like its name implied, Riverwolf had plenty of wolves and a river. 

The wolves were known as ‘dark hounds’, known for their long ears that resembled that of a dark elf— with fur, of course. And they were the weakest evolution of their kind, so they were considered to be Copper-ranked threats, and most adventurers from Level 10 to Level 19 were capable of dealing with them. 

Meanwhile, the variety of monstrous fish that lived in the river were far more dangerous, mostly due to their sheer numbers. Because of that, it was generally advised that only a team of Iron-ranked adventurers— those who were between Level 20 to Level 29– to approach the river. 

Donovan was one such adventurer who refused to heed this warning. Even though he was only a Level 24 [Spellsword], he worked alone, so he would never join a team. He stood right before the rushing stream, a few hundred feet away from Riverwolf as he began to set up his traps to lure the monstrous fish out of the water. After all, unlike some idiots out there, he knew better than to dive into the river to try and hunt down these monstrous fish.

Glancing back, he saw a team of five adventurers further down-stream, preparing to plunge into the water. They had arrived at Riverwolf a day after Donovan, and they had asked him if he wanted to join their team, which he vehemently refused. And that was a good choice on his part too, considering how they were all going to get themselves killed soon.

“At the very least, they’ll lose one or two of their members before they realize their folly,” Donovan snorted as he attached a scroll onto a fishing line. “That’s what they deserve for brazenly rushing in without any planning.” 

Unlike that team of adventurers, Donovan had spent a full day preparing to hunt down the monstrous fish infesting the river. That was why he was going to leave this village mostly-unscathed, while they were going to be leaving with casualties and severe injuries.

“To get ahead as an adventurer, you have to work smarter, not harder!” he exclaimed as he threw the fishing line into the water. “After all, this isn’t a fun job. This is the most dangerous job in the world. When you go out on any mission, you’re putting your life on the line.”

Donovan had seen enough adventurers dying to understand there was no glory to be had working as an adventurer. It was just like any other job— except it was far more dangerous, while paying better. Some folks thought that being an adventurer meant that they were heroes of some sort, when that was nothing more than a children’s idealistic dream.

“Now, we wait,” Donovan finished as he sat down next to the fishing rod he had set up. 

All he had to do was wait for a bite, and the spell scroll would activate, sending whatever monstrous fish that was there flying out of the water and onto land. When that happened, he’d be able to deal with it with ease. 

That was why he had had spent a full day etching out a dozen Scrolls of Water Spout. It wasn’t a powerful offensive spell, but he wasn’t utilizing it was an attack, instead as a trap. On the other hand…

Donovan looked towards the group of adventurers in the distance and snickered. They were bickering as they were preparing to get into the water. Even if they were probably around his level, it was clear that they were very much inexperienced. He truly wished he brought some snacks, because he couldn’t wait to see the mess they caused. 

“If they get themselves killed, they deserve it—” he started with a shrug.

And a powerful explosion interrupted him, drawing his attention back towards Riverwolf. Blinking, he looked at the village in shock as a blast of purple flames blew apart a dozen or so houses. He heard a terrible roar, before his gaze snapped up to the sky. He watched as a winged figure swooped by overhead, unleashing another purple fireball into Riverwolf as the terrified screams of the villagers echoed out.

“What…?” He gaped at the sight.

Another powerful explosion rocked the village as the ground jolted beneath where he sat. Stumbling to his feet, he saw two more winged figures fly overhead— even more fiery blasts struck the village as he heard the cries of children and women. 

The realization of what was going on settled in as he backed away in fear.

“No— what are they doing here? We’re over a thousand miles from Purgatory! We should be safe their attacks!”

But it didn’t matter what he said, because the reality of his situation was as clear as day. A blanket of smoke began to pour into the sky as Donovan stared in shock. He didn’t even process the fact that his fishing rod was being tugged, and his trap was working.

He only broke out of his stupor when he heard the shouts coming from the side. He watched as the group of adventurers downstream charged towards the village, raising their weapons and preparing for battle.

“Evelyn, prepare your barriers! Jerome, watch the skies! Danielle and Ari, with me! We have to sage Riverwolf!” a [Warrior], presumably the leader of the adventurer team, shouted.

“Yes, Jason!” his team chorused as they followed after him.

Donovan gritted his teeth as he watched them go. But he didn’t join them. Instead, he shook his head and ran the other direction, even as he saw their spells and arrows being slung into the air at the winged figures.

“Idiots… do they not realize what’s going on?” Donovan shook his head as he followed the river and clutched onto the hilt of blade at his side. This was the only option he had, anything else was suicide. “They’re not heroes, and this isn’t just a monster attack.” 

Donovan continued to run as he heard another blast resound from the village. He closed his eyes for a moment, hearing the screaming grow more and more distant.

“Damn the divine, this is a—”

And as he opened his eyes, a heavy figure landed right before him, practically crashing and leaving a small crater on the ground. Donovan was sent flying from the impact, falling to his back.

His eyes went wide as he saw the crimson-scaled creature standing before him. It had a pair of wings that were twice as long as it was tall, and it had a spiked tail that was half the length of its body. It was only a few inches taller than Donovan, but it looked like it was towering over him.

He stared at the creature as it huffed, and a streak of smoke puffed out of its nostrils. Purple embers began to wisp out of its pointed mouth. 

Donovan closed his eyes and whispered.

“…there is nothing we can do, because this is a drake attack.”

And the drake roared, unleashing a purple inferno that incinerated him before he could even scream.

—-- 

Rasaalkuth roared triumphantly once he turned the human adventurer into ash, before taking back into the skies. He looked towards his two companions as they killed hundreds of fleeing humans with each passing moment. It hadn’t even been a minute, and almost the entirety of the large village had been turned to ash.

“Slaughter them! Eat their children! Do not show them any mercy!” the drake bellowed as he swept down at the group of five adventurers.

They fired spells and projectiles his way, before he breathed out another blast of fire.

“Creation be damned, kill them all— thus decrees I, Rasaalkuth the Lord of Flames!”

In a single attack, he wiped out the group of adventurers before they could even fight back. And with that, the siege was over. All the humans were dead.

Rasaalkuth looked up to see his two companions descend before him. Unlike him, their wings weren’t a part of his body. Their wings were made from a crimson flame. He nodded at them as they landed and bowed at him.

“Your will has been done, so says I, Morakath the Knight Of Flames,” the first drake— a green-scaled male— said in a low voice.

The second drake— a pink-scaled female— joined him, “And so agrees I, Kaleth the Herald of Flames.”

“By Xorn’s remains, we will raze all of creation to the ground. We will not stop here. There is a large city to the north, and by sundown, there will be nothing but ash and death.” Rasaalkuth spoke simply as he began to rise into the air.

The three drakes had already burned down over a dozen human villages in the last few hours, and they weren’t finished just yet. He wasn’t going to be satisfied until millions lay dead at his feet. So he was about to take off to continue incinerating these human lands.

But he paused as he heard a sound coming from the ashen ruins of the large village. It was soft at first, before growing louder. It was rhythmic. And it seemed to rise and fall in intensity at sporadic moments. 

“What is that noise?” Rasaalkuth asked with a frown, landing back to the ground.

And the three drakes watched as a figure approached from the burned village, walking over the corpses without a care in the world. It was a human man, and he was dressed in a strange outfit, unlike anything they had ever seen before. 

It looked like he was wearing a sleeveless hooded cloak. He had strange images painted onto his skin, and a metal chain hanging from his neck. He had long black hair, but a strange device was wrapped around his head, covering his ears. 

Rasaalkuth narrowed his eyes as the human man came to a halt right before the three drakes. He lifted the device from his head as the sound grew louder for a brief moment.

“This noise?” he said as he pressed a button on the strange device. The sound stopped, and he shook his head. “That was music. I know your people are unfamiliar with it, but humans love to dance to it. And I can listen to it all I want from my headphones. Pretty neat, huh?”

The human man stared at the three drakes with a stupid smile on his face. In response, Rasaalkuth unleashed a blast of purple flames that ripped through the ruins of the village. 

“Foolish human,” Rasaalkuth snorted as the flames cleared, leaving behind a smoldering crater. 

But a voice piped up from behind him, “That was a bit rude.” 

Spinning around, the three drakes stared in shock at the human man as he stood behind them, completely unscathed.

“We didn’t even introduce ourselves yet. Let me start: my name is David. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” David proffered a hand, still wearing that same smile he did before.

Rasaalkuth gnashed his teeth together and pointed. “Kill him— thus decrees I, Rasaalkuth the Lord of Flames!”

Both Moraketh and Kaleth roared, charging at the human man as he tilted his head. They moved fast, carried forward by their flames. But somehow, he moved faster. He pressed the same button on his headphones, and music started playing once again as he danced around them.

“Hey, at least you’re finally introducing yourself now, huh?” David chuckled as he sidestepped a clawed strike from Moraketh. Kaleth tried to flank him, but he easily flipped her onto the ground. “Rasaalkuth is a bit of a mouthful to say though. What about a nickname? I was thinking something along the lines of—”

Kaleth tried to pick herself up as she swiped her claws at him. And his face twisted, the smile turning into a more savage look as he produced a black scythe out of thin air. He swung up, slicing off her head in an instant.

“Walking corpse, dead meat, or maybe even soon-to-be-murdered-drakes?” David laughed.

And Rasaalkuth roared, unleashing another blast of purple flames. It was powerful enough to even melt the earth. It should have consumed everything in its path— even those who were standing a thousand feet away weren’t safe from the blast.

But the human man just placed his scythe on the ground. Somehow, it blocked the attack as Moraketh charged at him once again. He grabbed the green-scaled drake and tossed him into the purple flames before they dissipated.

Rasaalkuth watched as his remaining companion was killed by his own flames, Moraketh’s pained screaming echoing throughout the desolate region for a single moment, before it was snuffed out.

David shook his head. “Tsk, tsk, tsk. You know, you should be more careful of friendly-fire. Get it? Friendly… fire? Because you killed your friend with fire? Man, I am so funny.”

Rasaalkuth just stared at the corpses of his two companions, before he clenched a fist. He looked up at the human man as his music continued to play in the background. 

“I will kill you, so says I—” Rasaalkuth began to bellow as he took to the sky.

“Rasaalkuth the Lord of Flames. Yeah, yeah, I got that already,” David snorted.

The Lord of Flames inhaled, and his entire body began to glow. Flames poured into his mouth as he stared down at the human man. For a moment, David didn’t look impressed. And then a fire seemed to burn in his eyes, and his chest started to faintly glow. 

David raised a brow at that as he saw that. “Oh?” 

Rasaalkuth roared. “You shall face my wrath—”

But before the drake could finish, David’s lips moved. He mouthed a few silent words. And he snapped a finger—

There was a flash of light. And suddenly, Rasaalkuth found himself lying on the ground, his body cleaved in half. He was bleeding profusely from where he had been cut. He hadn’t even realized what happened, just that his wings and his legs were gone. 

Weakly raising his head, he saw David standing before him.

“That could’ve been dangerous. It’s no wonder they call you the Lord of Flames. You could’ve killed even a Level 100 human with that!” David whistled, clearly impressed. “But unfortunately for you, you ran into me.”

“I… w-what…?” Rasaalkuth croaked out, still trying to comprehend what happened.

David walked forward as he tried to raise a claw. But then the drake’s eyes grew wide when he finally spotted what was behind him. He gaped in utter shock at the sight.

There was nothing there. 

The ruins of the village, the nearby trees, and even the river— it was all gone, reduced to a massive crater that spanned over a mile in each direction.

Rasaalkuth tried to work his jaw, feeling the pain suddenly settle in. He groaned as he lay there, hacking up blood. David came to a halt before the drake.

“Honestly, I’m surprised someone as powerful as you decided to leave Purgatory. Most of you drakes are too much of cowards to fight outside of your terrain. So for that, I commend you, Rasaalkuth the Lord of Flames.”

David gave an approving nod, before raising his scythe.

“However, that’s not going to stop me from killing you—” he started as the drake stared up with round eyes.

But then there was a beep. A loud noise that came from the human man’s headphones. He blinked as his music was interrupted, and he furrowed his brows.

“That’s…?” He reached for his pockets and produced a strange square-ish object with a screen on it. Staring at the screen for a moment, he frowned. “Seriously?”

David groaned as Rasaalkuth just stared in confusion.

The human man muttuered to himself as he pocketed that object, before removing his headphones.

“I can’t believe it actually tried to pick a fight with a greater earth elemental? And that was my last one! Now I’m going to have to go to the Xor-In Mountains myself… but where can I even find her?” 

David tapped a finger on his chin, and Rasaalkuth opened his jaw. 

“You don’t happen to know where I can find a girl named Kara, do you?” the human man asked hopefully.

In response, the drake unleashed a blast of flames. But David emerged out of it unscathed.

“Thought so.”

And with that, he swung his scythe down, killing the Lord of Flames in one swift motion. Drawing back, he turned to face the general direction of the Xor-In Mountains.

“Now then, where exactly can I find you, Kara of Earth C65?” David asked, his gaze piercing the horizon.

—--

And Kara raised her head.

Her golden-blonde hair swayed with the soft gust of wind washing over her, and the faint yellow glow of her fading flames vanished from her body. She looked over the landscape and saw the mountainous landscape stretch to the distant horizon. 

The sun hung high above, but the sky was overcast, with dark-gray clouds dulling the brilliant rays of the sun. Still, Kara could tell that it was around noon. So she adjusted her fingerless gloves and looked back down at the corpses littering her feet.

One of the corpses was being munched on by a two-headed bear. An utlas bear. Kara’s furry companion. 

Angel. 

“Don’t do that, Angel,” Kara said as she strode up to him. “Eating them raw isn’t good for your health… probably.”

He looked up at her with a mouthful of raw meat. Tilting his head, he stared at her quizzically, and she rolled her eyes. 

“I know you’re hungry. But can’t you wait until we’re back at the camp?” she asked as she picked up one of the corpses, slinging it over her shoulder.

These weren’t the corpses of people. Rather, they were the dead bodies of monsters. Giant moose-like creatures that traveled in a herd. Kara and Angel had intercepted them and felled a dozen of their numbers before the rest escaped. 

They were dangerous creatures. Kara had encountered them a long time ago, back when she didn’t stand a chance against them in battle. But now, she was much stronger than ever.

Angel groaned as he placed a paw on his stomach, and Kara chuckled in response. 

“Come on— you don’t need to wait much longer. Let’s head back now.”

And the utlas bear perked up at that.

—--

It had been around a year since the young woman from Earth arrived in the world of Xantos. Summoned by a dying dragon and given powers beyond her comprehension, it was suffice to say that Kara had been through a lot during that relatively short period of time. Whether it be nearly dying innumerable times while trying to survive in the dangerous Xor-In Mountains on her own, or being forced to protect a group of over a hundred thousand refugees. Her time in this brand new world could hardly be described as anything enjoyable.

However, there was nothing that haunted her more than what happened during the fall of the Sanctuary City of Alyona. It was the first place that offered her refuge— that gave her a sense of safety. But not only was it all destroyed, she lost some of her closest friends when it happened.

Even now, she still had nightmares of what happened that night. 

Kara’s eyes flickered open as she saw the bandaged man standing before her, his right eye boring into her with a depravity she had never seen before. He was the one responsible for bringing it all to ruin. 

The Dreamer who wanted to become a god. 

Adam.

Kara shuddered at the memory of their brief encounter, and a curious head poked over her shoulder. Angel stared at her worriedly, but she gave him a reassuring look.

“I’m fine,” she said as he whined softly.

Focusing on the task at hand, Kara looked back up towards the monolith standing in the far distance. At the very center of an open plains, lay the Sanctuary City of Yulia. Kara paused at the top of a small hill as she took in this sight.

Even from this distance, the difference between Yulia and Alyona was evident. While Alyona was a relatively small city that was packed with an incredibly dense population, due to being built into a cavern, Yulia didn’t have this problem. The Sanctuary City of Yulia was surrounded by open plains, so it had been able to expand as much as necessary to accommodate its ever-growing populace. The diameter of the city itself had to be dozens of miles across at the bare minimum. And there had to have been over a million people living within its walls.

That was why Yulia was known as the largest Sanctuary City.

But Kara hadn’t had the chance to explore it just yet, because she had spent most of her time out here, helping the survivors of Alyona. 

She looked towards the various encampments gathered around the walls of Yulia. There were refugees that came from all around the Xor-In Mountains, displaced by the Dreamers. And one of those camps belonged to the survivors of Alyona.

It had been about a month since they had arrived at the Sanctuary City of Yulia seeking refuge. Each day, they were permitted to bring five thousand of their refugees into the Hakyr District of Yulia. And as the newly-ordained Guardian of Alyona, it was Kara’s duty to protect those who hadn’t been let into the city just yet. 

Angel stayed by her side as always, of course. So neither of them had the chance to explore Yulia, even though they had been within its vicinity for quite a while now. 

Protecting the survivors of Alyona sounded like it would have been a hassle, but it was actually quite beneficial for Kara. After all, her main task was providing the camp with additional food, since their rations were running low. So all she had done every single day was set off to hunt monsters and bring back their corpses for lunch and dinner.

That was perfectly in line with what she wanted. After all, she desired to become stronger. So that she could become strong enough to prevent something like what happened in Alyona from happening again.

So that she could become strong enough to defeat the Dreamers.

And to do that, she needed to ascend. Her dragonsoul needed to reach the next stage. Hunting down monsters helped her do exactly just that.

“I’m getting close,” she whispered as she felt the golden flames burning at her chest.

If she had to guess, she had roughly three-quarters the amount of mana needed to ascend to the next stage. Or maybe it was closer to two-thirds. It was hard for her to tell for certain. But she knew that if she kept this up every single day for a few more months, she’d be able to undergo her next ascension.

When that happened, she’d become even stronger than before.

Her eyes flickered as she took in her encampment just ahead. It was relatively small, compared to its size before. There were mostly young, military-aged men who were still left behind, with the elderly, the sick, and the children given utmost priority to be let into Yulia. But at this point, most of the camp had been emptied, and soon, there wouldn’t be an encampment left, as all the survivors of Alyona would finally be inside the Sanctuary City.

And as Kara finally arrived at the camp, she closed her eyes and spoke in a soft voice.

“Maybe then I’ll be strong enough to defeat Adam…”

At the very least, Kara could only hope that was the case.

Author's Notes:

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