Under the Oak Tree - Chapter 206

Chapter 206: Side Story Chapter 12

We should have two to three hours before the rain starts.

After gauging the direction of the wind and the thickness of the clouds, Riftan leaped onto a boulder. When Ruth finally caught up, he stopped to catch his breath before crawling up after him. They continued walking for another forty minutes before coming across a small spring.

“We’ll rest here for a while.”

Ruth simply bobbed his head, too tired to even speak.

After gulping down the remnants of his flask, Riftan refilled it with spring water and passed it to the mage.

Ruth slumped on the ground to drink it along with a pinch of salt. When he had managed to settle his breathing again, he asked weakly, “Do you think it’ll rain?”

“Yes, and soon,” Riftan said brusquely.

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He took out a piece of jerky and started chewing it. They only rested for about five minutes before resuming their pace.

Dark clouds gathered over the bleak, gray summit. Sensing a shift in the wind, Riftan searched for a place to take shelter. He hurried the mage up a steep slope, where they found a small cave between two rock faces.

After making sure no monsters or beasts lurked within, Riftan piled rocks and branches at the entrance to block the impending downpour. Ruth trudged into the cave and collapsed onto the floor.

Riftan clicked his tongue. “At this rate, everything of worth will be gone by the time we get to the site.”

“If so… it means there was nothing there to begin with,” Ruth retorted, gasping for breath. “How many do you think are able to trek through the Lemek Mountains this quickly? I’ve no doubt we’re already ahead of the mercenaries that started out the moment we acquired the information, so stop looking at me like I’m such a disgrace. I assure you, no other mage would have been able to keep up!”

“If you hadn’t wasted your energy yapping, we would be there by now.”

Looking indignant, Ruth opened his mouth to shoot back when a rumble sounded overhead. Riftan looked to the cave’s entrance as the rain came pelting down. Soon, a white mist shrouded the dark summit.

“If I had known it would be this hard,” Ruth said, slumping against the stone wall, “I would’ve gone with the others to lend a hand in a dispute or some such deal. The journey is strenuous enough as it is without your constant harassment.”

“Do me a favor – do that next time,” Riftan muttered flatly, settling on the cave floor with one leg stretched out.

The storm soon soaked through everything outside. The only sound in the cave was the pattering of rain before Ruth spoke.

“May I ask why you accepted such an arduous task? It would be great if we managed to find anything of value at the site, but it also entails that much risk. We could run into monsters or get caught in some troublesome snare. Would it not be easier to fight in wars like the others? With your skills, I’m sure you’d make a name for yourself in no time.”

“There’s no money to be made in battle,” Riftan answered blandly. “Catching one drake would easily get more.”

“But wouldn’t fighting in wars open more doors to elevate yourself in society? You could attain knighthood if you gained the attention of a noble.”

“Not interested.”

“You won’t live past forty if you keep on like this, you know,” Ruth mumbled, pursing his lips.

Turning away from the rain that now fell in white sheets, Riftan snorted. “That means I still have many years left before I croak.”

The rain began to fall harder. Most monsters were not fond of water, so now was the perfect time to lower their guards a little. Riftan unfastened his belt and closed his eyes in order to conserve as much energy as possible. Ruth, however, had no intention of letting him rest.

“How old are you, exactly?”

“Weren’t you just whining about how tired you were? We’re setting out again as soon as the rain stops, so you should rest while you can.”

Ruth clamped his mouth shut at Riftan’s sharp tone. A moment later, his curiosity getting the better of him, he began to pry again.

“Mid-twenties?”

Riftan sighed. He knew that once the mage had something in his head, he would not stop bothering him until he got an answer. It was better to satisfy his curiosity now than to go through that.

“I’m sixteen.”

When he was met with nothing but silence, Riftan thought that he would finally get some peace. He pulled his hood over his head and lay on his side. A second later, Ruth’s shrill voice echoed about the cave.

“Sixteen?!”

The mage leaped to his feet and bumped his head against the low ceiling. Clutching his head, his eyes brimming with tears, Ruth looked Riftan up and down in disbelief.

Riftan frowned. He knew nothing about him screamed youthful innocence, but was it that difficult to believe? For some reason, he felt offended.

“Do you have a problem with my age?” he growled.

“You jest! How could you possibly be sixteen?!” Ruth shrilled again. “What kind of sixteen-year-old has a body and face like yours? Do you really expect me to believe that in the short time you’ve been alive, you’ve become deranged enough to leap onto a wyvern without batting an eye or charge a drake to ram your sword into its open mouth? Honestly, what must your life have been like for you to turn out like that?”

“Like what?”

Sensing the warning in Riftan’s voice, the squawking mage flinched and gave an awkward smile. It was not long before his brazen nature got the best of him. He continued to run his mouth, albeit more carefully.

“Like a seasoned warrior who’s been through hell and high water. Sixteen, you say? And what about your inhuman strength?”

“It’s not my fault I look like this!”

Ruth’s mouth snapped shut at Riftan’s outburst.

“Then,” Ruth continued cautiously, his expression perplexed, “how old were you when you joined the company? How early did you have to wield a sword to be-”

A flash of lightning lit the sky, followed by rolling thunder. Riftan caught an unusual scent in the air and pushed the mage to the ground. When he peered out of the cave, he could make out a large, shadowy form in the rain.

“Ow… I understand words, you know! Was that really necessary?”

“Shut it!”

A massive monster prowled toward the cave. It was like watching a hill move. A pair of yellow eyes glowed through the downpour, and Riftan immediately knew they had been discovered. He drew his sword. Cottoning on to the gravity of the situation, Ruth crouched into a defensive stance.

“C-Can drakes get that big?” he asked, his voice shaking.

Riftan did not answer. It was a monster even he had never seen before. Though it resembled a drake, it was at least four times bigger. Sharp, black scales covered its entire body, and its form was closer to a four-legged beast.

Was it a mutant? Or could it be a rare species, yet to be widely known? Riftan grew tense. Information was vital when it came to hunting monsters that were several times larger than oneself. Without knowing its nature or its strengths and weaknesses, it would be difficult to gain the upper hand.

The creature continued to approach the cave. Not only was there no way of knowing if it was venomous, but its vital points were a complete mystery. Its anatomy appeared to be different from other monsters of the dragon subspecies.

Goddammit. I guess my only choice is to face it head-on.

“Stay back and cast a barrier around yourself!” Riftan barked, then threw his hook and chain at the monster’s front leg.

The creature sniffed at the chains with faint curiosity. It raised its head slowly and yanked up its restrained limb. Riftan rolled in the mud to dodge the monster’s sharp claws, slackening the chain as much as possible. As soon as he bound the monster’s hind leg to the front, its massive body lurched forward.

Still, the chain was not enough to restrain a creature bigger than a wyvern. When Riftan noticed they were close to snapping, he loosened them and leaped onto the creature’s back. He tightened his grip as the monster thrashed, then swung the dagger at its torso.

The blade glanced off. He looked down at the slightly dented scale in dismay. Of course, he had assumed that a monster of this size would have thicker layers of skin and muscle than normal, but he now saw that even the creature’s scales appeared to be tougher than a drake’s.

Hell. It’s going to take more than one stroke to kill this one.

The monster’s thrashing felt violent enough to bring down a mountain. Barely clinging on, Riftan crawled up the creature’s back using his hook as though he were scaling up a cliff. When he reached its head, he saw two horns protruding from its temples.

The curved horns looked as though they would offer a better grip than he currently had, enough to allow him to draw his bastard sword. The moment he grabbed one of them, however, a powerful electric shock shot into his hand. He cried out as excruciating pain tore through him. It felt as though he were being shredded to pieces.

“Master Calypse!”

A magical barrier went up as he fell. Any later and he would have been trampled. He willed himself to his feet despite his convulsing leg muscles.

Gripping his sword with shaking hands, he desperately scanned the monster for a weak point and spotted the lack of scales on the creature’s abdomen. He leaped into action. Darting under the monster, he latched onto one of its hind legs. It began bucking, causing sparks to flash all around him.

Can it control lightning?

Riftan cursed his terrible luck. Of all the monsters they could have run into, it just had to be a rare creature such as this. Unleashing a flurry of curses in his head, he used the hook to climb up the monster’s leg. As expected, its belly appeared relatively softer. He drove his sword deep into the square of flesh between the abdomen and leg and began to saw. By chance, he managed to sever an artery. Black blood began to gush from the wound.

Undeterred, Riftan plunged his sword into the monster once more. It let out an ear-splitting roar and leaped into the air. The heavy impact rattled Riftan’s entire frame, shaking him off the monster’s leg.

He instinctively began to crawl in the mud to evade the impending attack, but the electric shock must have numbed his body, making his movements sluggish. The monster stomped.

Another bout of hot pain tore through him, and he screamed. It was so intense that he barely managed to remain conscious. The monster’s foot was pressed into one of his legs from the knee down.

Had he been even a little slower, it would have crushed him completely. Though he had narrowly avoided that fate, the situation was still dire. Dragging his broken leg, he searched for a place to hide, to no avail.

This is it.

The moment he had the thought, a stone spire shot from the ground and pierced the monster. The creature opened its mouth wide as if to breathe fire and let out a deafening roar.

Ruth raced over, his face deathly pale.

“M-Master Calypse!” he said, trying to help Riftan up. “Are you all right? We need to heal you at-”

Riftan shoved the mage’s hand away and barked, “Goddammit! What’re you still doing here? Run!”

Ruth looked taken aback. It was clear that he thought he had killed the monster. Behind them, the creature’s mouth hung open, and a deep growl and white vapor issued from it with every ragged breath. Ruth’s attack had apparently just missed its spine.

Riftan gripped his sword as the monster smashed the stone spire. It charged forward with its jaws set wide as though to scoop both of them up at once. Riftan pushed Ruth out of the way and flung himself in the opposite direction, but his broken leg made him stumble.

Sharp teeth pierced his forearm, and the agony of crushed bone and muscle engulfed his whole body. Riftan’s jaw clamped shut with enough force to pop a vein. He had to cling to consciousness, or it would truly be the end.

Swinging his sword with his other arm, he stabbed the monster in the eye. It released its grip and jerked its head back.

He latched onto the monster with his good side and used his sword to drag himself up its face. Gathering the last dregs of his energy, he clung to the wildly thrashing creature and thrust the sword between its eyes. Soon, its flailing limbs grew as rigid as stone, and it came crashing to the ground.

Riftan tumbled down with it. Completely drained, he lay sprawled in the mud as rain fell over his battered body. All his senses felt dull. His vision blurred as though he were underwater.

“M-Master Calypse…”

Ruth’s frantic voice seemed to reach him from a distance. He did not have the strength to reply. Exhaustion engulfed him, along with an icy chill. He could not recall a time when he had not been tired and cold, he thought vaguely.

Always tired, always so cold…