CHAPTER 58: The journey to the castle begins

Yasu POV

I woke up again and I felt my body refreshed. Everyone seems to walk around keeping busy except for Suyeon who stayed beside me. It’s still nighttime but, it seems like I slept through the day. I notice Suyeon is still sleeping beside me curled up due to the cold breeze as the blanket over her wasn't enough to keep her warm. I gently placed Mole’s fur over her and she stopped shivering as she slept soundly.

“How do you feel?” Kana asked me as I sat up.

"Like a million bucks," I tell her stretching out my arms.

“Are you sure? You were really in a bad state after we got through the portal.” She tells me making me remember waking up inside the cave with her and Mamoru.

She briefly told me what was going on and luckily, Suyeon woke up on time for me to hatch up a plan. Catching them off guard managed to work and I got everyone through the portal without having any casualties. It came to my surprise that Mamoru is Junpei’s little brother yet; I didn't let it bother me even after waking up. I noticed him wary when I walked around him earlier after cooking the wolf. In my mind, it’s his brother that did me wrong so I have no feelings of ill will towards Mamoru. Everyone noticed me awake and Daikichi came jogging towards my way.

“Yo, finally awake? I thought you went into hibernation nation again.” He says lightly punching me in the arm.

"Yeah, I should be fine now," I tell him moving around side to side to stretch out the muscle around my waist.

“Seriously Yasu, what happened?” Ms. Sam asked as she came close to me placing her hand on my forehead. “No more fever, good. Now young man, tell me what’s going on?”

“It’s a long story so let me wash up first and I’ll tell you while we're eating. I’m hungry.” I tell her while standing up and they all walked towards the table. The same table they were sitting around last night when I woke up to briefly to eat.

After washing my face, I walked to them and I notice Suyeon woke up also as she neatly folds Mole's fur to hand it to me. I grab it handing her a towel as she walked towards the water to wash her face. As soon as I reached the table, they handed me what seemed to be cooked wolf meat. I ate it and like the boar meat yesterday, it tasted stale compared to what I made. I explained to them what happens after I use one of the new skill that the side effects have me convulsing as my inside burn before getting a really high fever.

"I learned the hard way testing out the skill," I tell them as I finish my food. Suyeon handed me a glass of water and I nod to her as she smiled at me.

“Yasu, don't use that skill, ever.” Ms. Sam ordered and I gave her a smile to ease her worries.

"I won't," I tell her but in the back of my mind, I know I'll have to use it if another time comes.

“Anything else we need to know?” Kana asked and I hesitated to tell her about the other skills. But in the end, I owe it to them that I'm still alive so I explained to them each and every effect of all the new skills I got while being inside the hidden dungeon for a year.

“What the hell…” I hear Daikichi whisper and they all have the same sad expression.

"I don't know why my skills have so many negative effects but I guess it's because of how overpowering my new skill is, it's the price I pay for using them," I tell them while looking up the sky towards earth. "By the way, where the hell are we?"

Trying to change the topic and snap them out of their gloomy expression, I decided to look around and the trees seemed unfamiliar. Using my seismic step skill, I jumped up towards the sky and I see the forest goes as far as my eyes can reach. Yet, the tall mountain, the water that engulfed everything was completely gone. I land on the ground confused as I walked towards them.

“Did you see anything?” Daikichi asked and I shook my head.

“It looks like we entered a new continent. Everything looks unfamiliar to me.” I tell him before looking at Takumi. “You recognize any of these trees?”

He shook his head as he approaches one of them. "I have never seen these, it's the first I've seen these markings."

I see the trees have some sort of curls on certain spots. Getting an actually good look, the leaves are bright purple that even at night, it emitted a faint glow. It dimly illuminated the forest but not enough to safely venture out without any form of light.

"This looks very creepy at night," I whisper looking at the eerie scene that surrounds all of us.

“Yeah, but daytime it’s gorgeous. The leaves turn pink like Sakura trees.” Kana says making me imagine it.

“How long was I out?” I asked them and Kana started counting in her head.

“Well including the time we were in the cave up to now, I would say seven days?” She says making me more confused.

“Didn't I just cook you guys wolf last night?” I asked her pointing at the dead wolf but getting a good look at it, it looked different from what I butchered. “Or not.”

“That was three days ago. After you fell asleep, you briefly wake up at night to eat something then you’d go back to sleep.” Daikichi says making me more confused since I don't remember waking up.

"Yeah, you were like a zombie," Lisa says and I stopped trying to remember as I started feeling a small headache forming. "Oh by the way, after we killed the earth god-well to rephrase that after Suyeon killed the Earth God, it dropped something.”

Lisa called out her dimensional bag and struggled to take out something. As soon as she was able to bring it at the full view, she struggled to place it on top the table.

“Holy hell, is that a diamond ball?!” Dorang says bringing everyone’s attention as they all gathered around.

"Well we don't know but it sure is really damn heavy," Lisa whispers as she rubs her arms.

“Didn't you guys inspect it?” I asked and they all looked at me confused.

“Inspect?” Takumi asked and I nod at him. “There’s a skill like that?”

“Yeah, I have an inspect skill after I reached level nineteen. Lets me figure out what everything is. Here let me try it.” I say picking up the crystal ball looking diamond with one hand. I looked around it switching from one hand with ease and they all looked at me like I’m a weird animal. “What?”

"Isn't it heavy?" Lisa asked with a confused expression and I gave her a shrug. I gave the crystal to Daikichi who wanted to see it and it almost dragged him to the ground.

“Holy crap!” He shouted as he struggled to bring the crystal ball away from the ground. “This weights a ton!”

“See? I told you so!” Amaguchi says as he rubs his back. “I still remember the feeling of my back hurting.”

I grab the crystal ball out of his hand as I looked at it and just looking at the center somehow calms my mind.

"Inspect," I whisper while looking at it and a notification appeared before me.

Legendary Blue Keystone Crystal

Type

Uses

Family

Item

Key

Keystone Crystals

One of the four keystones to open the gate of the diamond. Chanting ‘show the way’ while holding it will lead you to the next closest keystone. Bring all four together to find the way.

"One of the tree keystone- holy shit," I say reading the description happily. "Don't tell me this is…"

“What? What is what?” Amaguchi looked at me like a curious dog. “Come on tells us, I’m dying to know!”

"I think this is a key to our castle," I tell them and they all looked at each other happily.

"Finally! No more camping outside! I am in dire need of a bath or shower." Lisa says smelling herself and they all started laughing. But as I read further, I couldn't help feeling restless.

"This is actually bad," I whisper re-reading the description.

"What? Please don't crush my dream of a proper bath." Lisa says clapping her hands together.

"It says it's one of the four keystones we need to find. Which means, there are three more like this.” I tell them and all of their expression turned from happiness to sadness.

“Don't tell me, we need to fight three more Earth Gods?!” Lisa says and even I’m not quite sure. “Ughhhh we almost died fighting one.”

She slumps down her chair as I read the description again, “It will glow when we’re near another one. It says bring all four together to find the way. Damn this reminds me of the puzzle I had to solve to get out of the dungeon.”

“Puzzle?” Daikichi asked.

“Yeah, after I saved Suyeon, we took the hidden path to get out of the dungeon only to meet a dead end. I needed to solve a puzzle to open the portal and I managed to do it at a nick of time. Almost died." I tell him and it piqued is interest making me remember he loved solving things.

“Lisa, mind if I keep this in my bag? It’s better for me to take it out every now and then to check our direction, it says here we can use it to bring us to the next one.” I tell her and she nods to me.

“Sure, I don’t think I’d want to carry around an Earth God magnet device.” She says making me chuckle a bit.

"If another Earth God appears, we'll be ready for him," I tell her as I look at the diamond ball. “Show the way.”

The ball faintly glowed and I can see it being pulled from one side as the light looked like it was being sucked towards one direction.

“Whoa.” I hear someone whisper as I watch the light slowly fades away.

“So what now?” Dorang asked and I didn't even notice everyone around me.

"We need to follow the light to the next one," I say storing the crystal ball into my bag. "But first, we need to find a town or a village to re-stock on supplies. We don't want to go unprepared like last time."

"True, and I really need a bath," Lisa says as she kept smelling herself.

“Say Yasu, can we like, live with you guys in your castle?" Dorang’s face looked serious.

"Do what you want," I tell him and they all started cheering.

“Yes!! Hear that everyone?! All hail the new king!” Dorang shout and they all shouted in unison.

“Nope, no king. We’re just using it as a base. You guys can use it to whatever you like after we’re done.” I tell him making sure they know we’re not staying here for long but it seems like Dorang doesn't even care or notice as he shouts.

“All hail the new temporary king!” He commanded and everyone shouted and laughed as they chanted his words.

Daytime quickly came as I stayed up while everyone slept. I’ve had enough sleep that I feel energetic even when daytime came. Like what they said, the trees turned from bright purple to light pink like a sakura tree. It brought a new calmness as the wind sways the leaves causing some to float onto the sky. The leaves landed on the ground covering the green grass with a pink carpet. It didn't take long till everyone woke up and we all started getting ready to head out.

"The first task is to find a stream of water. If we find one, it might lead us to a small village." I tell everyone.

I started assigning them a task and placing the vulnerable next to those who can protect them. I told Ms. Sam to stick with me along with Nala and Miki-sensei while Kana stayed close with Suyeon along with Lisa. Daikichi and Goro-sensei stayed in the back while Takumi led us through the forest scouting ahead. Mamoru also stayed in front just in case Takumi needed a quick exit, he can activate his portal to transport him to us.

It was easy in the beginning but now, with so many people going through the forest, it is a lot more difficult to keep track of everyone. Every now and then we will do a roll call but I hope we find a river soon or clearing to be able to camp. Yet, it felt relaxing as we walked through the sakura forest. We took a quick break every now and then as others needed to pee while the older folks needed to take a breather.

We continued to push through the forest creating marks on the trees to make sure we don't go on circles. So far, we made a good amount of distance from where we started but I’m starting to feel restless, as we can’t find anything that can lead us to civilization. As far as I know, this forest can go on for miles and miles until we reach a dead end without finding anything.

"Ok change of plans, we don't know how far a village is, if anyone sees anything unnatural like a cave or an entrance to any dungeon, let me know," I tell them and they all nod. “If we find a dungeon, we’ll enter it and use the safe zone to rest while we can also use it to boost up everyone’s level.”

We kept walking till the sun started to set over the horizon and the leaves on the trees turned back into purple. It gave an eerie feeling within the forest as the leaves on the ground emitted a faint glow. Rather than trying to find a clearing, I decided to cut some trees with the help of Takumi. We cleared a small area for everyone to set camp for the night. Using the cut trees, I created logs and Takumi made them into walls as he built it around us.

"Can you cut here, and here, and there?" he asked me and I gave him a nod cutting holes off the wall to act as a window for us to be able to look out.

My strength and Takumi's passive skill made it a lot easier to set camp as he's able to build everything fast and I was able to carry heavy materials. Lisa used her magic to reinforce the walls onto the ground. I told her don't use her magic too much since we don't know how much magic power she has. Takumi told us that one of the main problems is that the mages run out of magic power and without a magic potion, it takes too long to even replenish it. Lisa just helped with the reinforcement and our water source as she created a small pool for us to use.

“Ok guys, get a fire going, I’ll be right back. I’ll go look for food.” I tell them and I felt someone hold me back before I jumped over the wall.

“At least take one of us with you.” Ms. Sam sam with a worried look and I shook my head.

“Don’t worry Ms. Sam, I won’t go far. As long as you guys keep the fire going, I can find my way back.” I tell her and she slowly let go of my hand.

“Ok, but be careful. Come back quick.” She tells me and I nod before jumping over the fence and running into the dark forest.

I moved swiftly even with low visibility. I was so used to the darkness that, being in the dark felt more reassuring that at daylight. Using my seismic step skill, I ran through the forest clearing a great distance before climbing up a tree trying to get to the top of it to get a better look.

"Ok I made it far, I can still see the camp's light from here," I whisper when I suddenly hear a rustling sound beneath me. As I look, I see a wolf pack stealthy traveling through the forest and by the look of it, the direction they’re heading towards is our camp. Trying not to make to much noise, I dropped down while clenching my fist as I swung towards the ground.

"Knockout!" I shouted out and a purple rune appeared underneath us. They tried to run only drop to the ground before they even reach their third step. Without wasting time, I quickly killed them and stored carcasses in my bag. As I started walking through the forest to look for more, I found a black boar that tried to charge at me to only bail halfway. I quickly caught up to it as I knocked it out with one strike.

"Oh, before I forgot, let me see how close we are," I whisper while taking out the diamond ball. "Show the way."

The diamond ball glowed a bright blue as it points towards one direction. I followed it towards where the glow was being sucked into and I started hearing it buzz, as the air around the ball got stronger and stronger. Thinking that I would come across another earth got at any minute, the glow suddenly became faint as it started pointing at another direction.

“Oh what the hell?” I whisper tracing back my steps but it never changed as it kept pointing towards the new direction. “Weird.”

I placed the diamond ball inside my bag and ran towards our camp. It didn't take long as I reached the walls. I noticed a doorframe as I run right through it to be greeted by a group of people. I handed the wolves to them along with the boar and they quickly got started on deboning the carcass with Takumi’s help.

I didn't bother telling them what happened to the diamond ball as I sat down on the table emptying all the contents in my bag on top the table. I placed a couple of utensils, spices, cooking oil, Mole’s fur, and a few more items like the black book. I started doing an inventory check writing notes down on a piece of paper I got from the bandit town and everyone did the same as they emptied their bags keeping track of their inventory.

“Yasu, what's this?" I hear someone ask and when I look, I see Mamoru holding's Mole's bones I got from the Sky King's dungeon.

I guess he’s trying to strike up a conversation and I didn't mind but I notice everyone’s glances coming our way.

“His name is Mole, a giant baby chick. That’s his bones. He protected me inside the dungeon but lost his life in the process.” I tell him and he placed the bones down carefully on top the table.

"Aw, that's so sad," Lisa says as she approaches us looking at Mole's fur. "Can I touch it?"

"Go ahead," I tell her and she happily took the fur and rubbed it on her cheeks.

“Oh my god, this is so soft. Hello Mole.” She whispers and all the other girls came in and started feeling his fur. I didn't mind as I kept storing everything back in my bag.

“Um, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you Junpei is my brother.” He tells me as I started putting the items back in my bag.

I felt the atmosphere change as everyone got quiet and I hated that they’re becoming passive around me. As if, they’re wary of anything I do or say which made me feel a bit sad.

“It’s fine. You did nothing wrong so I don’t know why everyone acts like I’m going to chop your head off.” I say as I walk towards the fire leaving my bag on the table so it can disappear. I didn't say anything after that as I focused on cooking the wolf meat for everyone to eat.

Yasu, get yourself together. I whisper in my mind as I watch the meat sizzle on top of the pan. I don't know why they don't trust me at all. I guess it’s my fault.

I cooked the meat without much interaction with everyone and I can notice Kana restless talking to everyone around the table before walking towards to me. “Yasu got a minute?”

“Yeah, what’s up?” I asked her without looking at her as I focused on cooking the meat.

"You ok?" She asked me as she sat down across me on a log. I wanted to tell her I'm fine but I need to communicate better with them.

“It's nothing," I tell her but somehow I wanted to let her know. "Do you guys think I'm a killer?"

“No, we do-“

“You think I’m going to go into a fit of rage once I found out he’s Junpei’s brother," I tell her and she remained quiet. "If I wanted to kill him, I would have done it long ago."

"I'm sorry, it's just we don't want to make it any worse for you. You've been through a lot." She tells me and it didn't make me feel any better.

"The worse thing you guys can do is pity me," I tell her and she didn't say anything after that as she remained quiet watching me cook.

Dinner was one of the most uncomfortable atmospheres I experienced. No one said anything even when they wanted to and I didn't say anything back. It’s not that I was agitated; I just couldn't say anything thinking that I might say something else to make the situation worse.

Shit Yasu, wrong time to throw a tantrum. I whisper in my mind as I feed the fire with sticks. I look up the sky and watched earth float above the sky trying to see which country I’m staring at. I need to think of what to do next.

I look at everyone sleeping soundly and I see Mamoru still awake as he approaches the fire. "Mind if I sit here?"

"Go ahead," I tell him and he grabs a couple of sticks as he fed the fire. "So how did you get here?"

I decided to talk to him first to try and break the ice since I still notice he feels uncomfortable around me.

"When I got home and fell asleep, I woke up in the dungeon." He tells me as he snaps some sticks and feeds the fire with it.

“So what do you want to do now?” I decided to not beat around the bush and get everything straightened out.

“I…” He hesitated to talk before mustering up the courage. “I want to stay here, with everyone.”

“Why?” I asked him and it caught him off guard. He probably thinks I don’t want him here but I just want to know why he doesn't want to find his own brother.

"B-because I owe it to everyone and-" He suddenly stopped as he catches me staring at him with a serious look. "I want to make my own choices."

Even if he said it in a low voice, I heard it clearly. I didn't say anything since I have a general idea of what’s going on. It’s either he feels suffocated with his brother who makes all the decisions or he wants to prove to him that he can survive without him. But in the end, these different scenarios left my mind as I focused on one thing and one thing only. That is, finding and killing Luro.

“Do you have a skill that can teleport you anywhere you choose?” I asked him and he nods to me.

"As long as it's somewhere I have been and can clearly picture it, I can teleport back into that place but, the further the location, the more energy it takes out of me and I won't be able to do any more portals if my energy runs out too fast." He explained to me as I sat looking at the fire thinking of a new idea.

“If you wanted, you can teleport back into the cave we were in?” I asked him and he nods to me, which made it his decision, more solid. If he really wanted to leave, he would have left long ago when he got the chance.

“Wait, can't you create a portal back to earth?” I asked him and he shook his head.

“I tried but no matter how hard I envisioned it, the portal never activated.” He explained to me.

“Hm, come with me," I tell him and I walked towards the door that leads outside the walls they build around the camp. They made it so high it was impossible to see over unless you peek out using one of the makeshift windows. Mamoru followed me as far as he can until I stopped and looked back at camp, which was a dot at a distance.

“What are we doing out here?” Mamoru asked out of breath.

“I want to see how far you can make the portal. Can you make one here to connect towards the camp?” I pointed towards the faint don't at a distance and he gave me a nod. He took out his dimensional bag and took out a stave. He chanted a few words and I see a portal appear in front of us.

“I made it outside the camp so we don't wake anyone or accidentally teleport them here.” He tells me and I nod walking into the portal. It was like a door, I can see the other side and the minute I stepped in, I was already back at camp.

"Damn that's useful," I whisper as I see him walk in the portal before deactivating it. "How many more you can make before you run out of magic?"

"Probably, around eight more times." He tells me which is a downside to his class. He can make portals but he can't make an infinite amount of it.

“Ok, that’s more than enough. Go rest. Tomorrow you’ll leave with me.” I tell him as we walk back in camp and I can see everyone still sleeping with a few people from Dorang’s group are wide awake to keep watch. They gave us a nod the minute they saw us and I nod at them back before sitting back on the campfire. The morning quickly came and I started getting ready while they all started waking up. Mamoru woke up earlier than usual and I decided to help him sort out his inventory.

"This is the only weapon you got?" I asked him about looking at a stave.

"Y-yeah." He says and I place it back down on top the table. "Ok, I have a few utensils, a water container, and my old clothes."

"Ok, have this, and this. And this." I say handing him a few things I had in my bag and a few of the blue potion I didn't need. I forgot I had them stored in my bag for a long time. Since I never really need to replenish my magic power, I forgot all about it.

“What are you guys doing?” Lisa asked with everyone behind tagging along. I see they just finished washing their faces as they started surrounding the table looking at us.

"We're going to follow the diamond crystal to find what's at the end of it," I tell her.

"I guess it's time to go," Daikichi says while Yawning and I can see him starting to walk towards Dorang. “I’ll go tell everyone-“

“No don’t. No one is coming with us. You all are staying here.” I tell him and he looked back at me with a confused look. “Here’s my plan, we need to figure out what we're up against so I'm going to try and find what that is. I'm only taking Mamoru with me because he has the ability to create a portal as long as he's been there and remembers the path from one location to the next."

“But Yasu, it’s dangerous to fight it alone.” Ms. Sam says and I shook my head.

"I'm not fighting it. I just want to find it, inspect it and it will tell me it's a weakness. This is how I beat the sky king; I knew it’s weakness and used it against the dragon.” I tell her.

"But you should take at least one or two of us with you guys," Takumi says and I shook my head.

“We can’t take any chances. I won’t be here with you guys and it will be a lot easier to go through the forest with fewer people. I would take Suyeon with me but, I want her to be here just in case anything happens, she can protect you guys." I tell them and they all nod.

"Even I will admit, she is stronger than us," Takumi says as he looks at Suyeon who just woke up and decided to wash her face before running to us.

"Ok, I'm ready," Mamoru says as he placed the last items in his bag.

“Ok guy’s we’re leaving now. Take care of everything here while I’m away. Suyeon, you're in charge of protection." I tell her and she nods looking confused as we started walking away.

"Guys wait!" Ms. Sam ran to us and handed us each a potion. "Just in case you get sick, you can use these."

“Thanks.” I grab the potion off her hand and gave some to Mamoru before storing it in my bag.

We both turned and walked towards the forest without looking back. I took out the diamond crystal ball and chanted the command. Even if it’s day time, I can see it faintly glow on top my hand. I kept walking towards where I remembered it glowed brightly even when it's faint, I can notice it shining.

"Let's go find that damn castle," I say to Mamoru and we both walked towards the forest ready to find whatever is our next target.