Chapter 020

An Unexpected Meeting

“What do you mean we are surrounded?” asked Sinchiya warily. She could see nothing except for the white fog which clouded everything in front of her eyes. Alevier looked around, he could see nothing either. But Isella could sense life force and there was no reason she would be joking right now so he quickly prepared for action.

“There are nine- no, ten creatures surrounding us right now,” respond Isella as she took out her wand. “M-my er- detection wards can sense them.”

That sounded like bad news. Alevier felt the air around the cart whirl, he still could not see what had surrounded them. Then he heard a faint hiss.

“They are closing,” said Isella, a spell ready at the end of her wand. She pointed her wand somewhere in the fog and said, “Ember bullet!”

The blazing spell shot out of her wand and disappeared into the fog blasting somewhere in the distance.

Alevier heard a low but shrill hiss. He felt a chill go down his spine. There was another hiss in response. These creatures were communicating. If these creatures could coordinate an attack, they were done for.

Then something in the fog moved, Alevier could not see it, it was as if the very mist was trying its best to shroud that being. Whatever it was, its silhouette disappeared immediately and then, it spoke: “Virturessss you may passss...”

But then another body-less voice snapped. “Wait!” It was much deeper than the rest; almost sounding old. “There isss sssomething unexxxpected...”

Alevier felt the air behind his neck blow slowly. He immediately knew that something was behind him. And that something was very close. He cursed in his heart if these creatures were capable of mimicking human speech, they were some real trouble - much more dangerous than a mindless troll.

“...the cold one.” The creature said as it breathed over Alevier’s neck.

He turned and threw a punch behind him only to feel it brush against something akin to smooth skin, and not actually hit something solid. Whatever that thing was, it had dodged it, but Alevier had caught a glimpse of long white wispy hair of that creature which was barely visible in the fog.

His brain began putting the pieces together. Whatever that creature was, it hunted in thick fog by surrounding their prey, it was very agile, stealthy and capable of human speech. It all boiled down to two possibilities. But the fact that the creature had white hair eliminated the probability.

“You are the Mist Moths, right?” he said.

“Haaah! The cold one knowsss of ussss?” said the Mist Moth from the fog. “Asss exxxpected, asss exxpected of him! But don’t call usss by the name which humansss gave uss. ”

“Let us go,” said Sinchiya as she pulled out her wand and pointed it in the mist. Jaysaun got up from his seat and took out his wand too.

“You can leave, along with the halfff-blood... but the cold one musssst be taken to the Matriarch. It is necessssary.”

“No. Alevier will come with us,” said Jaysaun. Alevier could barely see him but there was something different about him, he could feel it.

“I am afffffraid that it cannot happen...”

“You want to start a fight with us?” said Sinchiya threateningly.

“We would like to avoid it ifff possssible.”

“Hey guys,” said Alevier. “I-I don’t know what is going on over here but clearly these Mist Moths want me and not you all-”

“-no we are not letting them take you,” interrupted Jaysaun.

“But-”

“-no buts, we are a team, Alevier,” said Sinchiya.

“Yeah,” said Isella her voice shook more now. “W-we won’t leave you alone Alevier.”

Alevier clicked his tongue. Mist Moths were particularly nasty creatures (they were not actually moths but a certain race of magical creatures) who were not easy to defeat especially in their magically conjured fog which made a very good cover for them. Not only that, but the fog also dampers the effects of magic. And they were surrounded by ten Mist Moths, to begin with. Even a 4th Star Magus would be hard pressed in their situation.

“Isella, how many are there?” he asked.

“Now, t-there are twenty,” she said. “One of them has left just now.”

“Do you really want to fffight?” asked the Mist Moth.

“Um, no really we have no intention of fighting,” said Alevier. They were in a sticky situation but the Mist Moths were not willing to fight. Some negotiations could be carried out. Right? “We would like to uh- peacefully pass by.”

“We are willing to let you go, ifff the cold one meetsss our Matriarch firssst,” responded the Mist Moths.

“May I ask why?” said Alevier.

“What is the need to negotiate?” snapped Jaysaun. “Only one of you is supposed to fight one student - that was the darn agre- ow!”

“Shut up Jaysaun,” said Sinchiya. She had probably hit him in the head with something.

But hell. What were these guys talking about? There was something he was unaware of and this was not good.

“We are leaving and Alevier will leave with us.”

“But he isss the cold one! We had not been informed offf sssuch a thing. This matter mussst be taken to the Matriarch!”

“He is the younger brother of the woman with the purple grimoire, do you still want to force him?” said Sinchiya firmly.

There was silence.

“They are moving away!” exclaimed Isella as the fog seemed to thin down.

Alevier sighed in relief and relaxed his senses with were tensed as hell. “Is my sister really that infamous? And what the hell was that abou-”

Suddenly Isella shouted in panic. “A lot of creatures coming this way from our east along with something strange! I cannot properly sense but it is dangerous!”

“Jaysaun!”

“Yeah, I know!” Jaysaun whipped the horse and the cart immediately jerked forward.

“Activate!” said Alevier as the runes on Brownie activated and the cart accelerated even further. Goddamnit, is this how tests should be? How the hell did Waelecia manage to put Mist Moths in this test? Damn her.

Alevier quickly chanted a spell and a small blob of white light appeared in his hands. He motioned his hand and it flew off into the distance. If the books were correct then Mist Moths hated light and did their best to extinguish any light source which ventured into their fog.

“Those creatures changed their direction, it is chasing that light,” said Isella. They rode in silence for a moment before Isella spoke again “They stopped there? Oh! Bad news: the strange thing I mentioned earlier?”

“Oh, man.”

“It seems very powerful and it is heading towards us alone. And it is moving very fast.”

Okay. Alevier took a deep breath. He just made matters worse. He sat down and began to contemplate. So they were being chased by the aforementioned Matriarch? Probably. So thinking of solutions, what could he do? Well, the Mist Moths seemed to take great interest in him. So…

“That thing is closing in!” said Isella as she shot an ember bullet in the fog. “It dodged.” She clicked her tongue.

“Calm down! I have a plan,” said Alevier with unwavering confidence as he peered into the fog behind the cart. For some reason, it had turned grey.

“What?”

“Yeah, Sinchiya! Can you cast a large Mud Ball spell?”

“I can,” she responded.

“Good, prepare one and aim directly for the sky, wait for my signal. Isella, prepare an ember bullet and aim towards the sky too, it should collide with Sinchiya’s spell after it is thirty feet in the air, okay?”

“Okay,” they began chanting their spell. Sinchiya held up her wand and faced the sky while Isella pointed her wand into the mist.

“Great. On the count of five, fire your spells,” shouted Alevier as he faced the back end of the cart. He walked closer to the mist and peered into the fog. “One… two… three...”

There was a muffled thud followed by a moment of silence.

“Uh- Alevier?” asked Sinchiya. There was no response. “Alevier?” She looked back, except for a shocked Isella who was standing in the centre of the cart there was no one else. “Where is he?”

“He...” said Isella. “He jumped.”

* * *

Alevier fell on the grassy ground feet first but his velocity made him topple and he almost twisted his foot, however, he rolled to lessen the damage and avoided a sprain.

Done with his awkward landing, he quickly picked himself up and readied his grimoire.

He stood there all alone in the mist, his grimoire which was floating beside him was the only distinct object visible to him. He had suffered a few scratches and his sense of direction was completely gone. And nausea did not feel good either. He prepared another illumination spell.

About his plan? Well, it was more of a suicidal plan where he would act as the bait and lure the Mist Moth Matriarch away while his friends escaped, but he felt that omitting such trivial details was alright. But at the moment, he was in a dilemma. Should he piss off this Matriarch more or should he try to talk to her? The former sounded like more fun.

The glowing ball of light shot in some direction and Alevier ran in the opposite direction with all his might. He heard a shrill scream. Someone got angry. But whatever, if he received some serious injury, he would be teleported out. If he was going to piss her, he should piss her good. As he ran, he began preparing another spell.

"STOP!" yelled out a high pitched voice. "Stop. With. These. Forsaken. Lights!"

The mist suddenly thickened and gradually turned from white to grey and finally to smoky black. The temperature dropped and chills went up Alevier’s spine. He froze on his spot and the spell in his hand dissolved into the darkness.

He felt a sharp gaze landed on his back and the air around him move. Shit. Too late for him.

He slowly turned his head and saw the cause of this atmosphere - the Matriarch. She was humanoid for the most part but was twice as big as a fully grown man. She had porcelain-like skin - incredibly pale and unnatural like actual enamel. Her eyes were like large black marble embedded in her sockets which had fine black lines running all around them. They made a strange net which lay in stark contrast with her ghostly white hair which floated around her head like a large spider web. She wore a long black backless gown which was… very long. Its end floated under her and ultimately morphed into the mist - was the very gown made of the mist? Alevier was curious whether she had legs and wanted to take a closer look but his curiosity quickly died down when he saw the large claws into which her arms ended. It looked almost as if her fingers had elongated into some nastily sharp looking blades which could skewer a man and a half in one strike.

And then he glanced towards the huge black wings which emerged from her back. They glittered with runes and natural mana circuits - the sign of a natural magical creature.

But all of this did not scare him. It was not that he was incredibly brave but all of those details could be ignored in front of her angry expression which made his legs feel like jelly.

The ground under him suddenly shifted and he almost fell. What the hell was that?

“Why are you here? And what do you want?” she snapped. She had a strange accent but that was acceptable since she was a magical creature. She began circling him and scrutinizing him with her marble-like eyes. For some reason, she seemed to be wary of him. “I will tell you this before you begin your assault against my kin that we are working for the great mage Azriaz at the moment and we are under his protection. If you do not want trouble, do not disturb us, do not bring your woe on this land. Away! Away for all I care!”

Has she mistaken him for someone? Alevier gulped down his saliva. “Okay… I was, however, just passing by. I seriously have no intention of causing trouble.”

“What do you mean, the harbinger of disaster? Are you not venturing these lands to bring calamity?”

“That is a weird title you are giving to me,” replied Alevier. “And I really don’t want to fight you. Not sure what you mean by bringing a calamity, but I am a peaceful person.”

“What?” she was taken aback. For a matriarch, she really did not keep her cool. “Then what are you doing here? What can you seek except for bringing tragedy on others?”

“...I have taken part in a race and I am just trying to pass through this er- area.” Being truthful in such situations was the best.

She suddenly sank into deep thought. After a moment she asked him. “Are you perhaps... a mage in training?”

“Yes,” he replied. “A 2nd Star as of now.” Okay, he just expressed how weak he was. Retarded him.

“And what do you know about yourself?”

“Er- I am a good person,” said Alevier. “Not a warrior of social justice but a simple person who minds his own business.”

Her lips curved up into a smile. “My! Heavens bless me! That is great - perfect, in fact. It means that if I kill you here and now, I will be able to avoid so much trouble - the world will be able to avoid so much trouble!”

Wow, where did he go wrong? And why does every woman he meets tries to kill him? Ugh, whatever. He would not be killed because he would be teleported out as soon as he receives a serious injury.

“Ah! Before that, let me deal with this,” she exclaimed. Then without any warning, she stabbed her finger into Alevier’s chest. He could not even see the strike coming, much less react at what happened. Beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead, he slowly took a breath and his heartbeat quickened. He felt it even scarier that he had been stabbed yet he did not feel any pain. He did not dare look at the wound as the Matriarch withdrew her finger.

“Oh, don’t behave like that, I haven’t stabbed you yet! I have just disabled the recalling ward placed on that badge,” she smiled merrily. “There is something I want to ask of you! It is so strange that you are weaker than me - my ancestors will be proud of me for bringing an end to you. So can you try to flee away from me? Shoo! I want to tell them how I killed a fleeing you when I see them in the heavens. I don’t want to taint my tongue with the sin of lying.”

“You...” Alevier was at a loss for words was she an idiot or had she go a few dozen screws loose. But then he suddenly remembered something. “You are working for Professor Azriaz, right? I-I am a student of his school and I am the brother of the er- the woman with the purple grimoire! You cannot kill me, else they will get angry and you definitely don’t want to make them angry!”

The Matriarch’s smile died down. “If that is what Sir Azriaz is planning… then he would have informed me.”

“He must be trying to keep it a surprise! He is a very secretive man,” Alevier continued to spout bullshit, he did not have much choice anyway. “He has a plan for me which he has not told me himself, I could tell that er- the last time we met.”

“And when was the last time you met him?” she bent and brought her face close to him. “Tell me.”

“Er, it was a few days ago,” said Alevier. She was a complete idiot. A big dangerous lethal idiot who could slice him up the moment she sees through him.

“Really? Tell me the date and time and where you met him,” she asked with a nasty smile. Okay, not a complete idiot.

Alevier’s mind was not working because of the immense mental pressure that the Matriarch was putting on him. “He...”

“Yes?”

“He asked me not to leak the details to anyone,” he played his best card. It was a gamble so he crossed his fingers and hoped for the best.

The Matriarch retreated her face and straightened herself. “Do you take me for-”

Her words were cut short by a loud explosion in the distance. Alevier turned his head, through the mist he could see yellow and orange lights of spells. Then there were flashes of blue light.

The Matriarch hissed. “Damnation to the devil! My royal guards should have not accepted those defence recalling wards. And those children! I will have to deal with them too, what a terrible misfortune.”

So these creatures were afflicted with a defence ward which would teleport them out on taking damage? That made sense, these creatures had willingly taken up the task of fighting the students - some of whom were very strong. Maybe it was to make the task easier for the students or it was for these creature’s own safety.

But whatever the reason, as soon as the Matriarch was distracted, Alevier used one of his most powerful spells, the one which used to be so hated by the bullies of his school - it was ‘turn and flee’!

He made a dash for it.

“Ah! You are finally fleeing. But do you think you can run away?” snickered the Matriarch. Oh, it sounded like one of those cliches in books where the villain had a contingency plan for the hero and thought that all was under their control while the hero had a trick up his sleeve which would turn the tides, but that was the very thing different here - he didn’t have any trick and therefore, he was going to be screwed over by the aforementioned villain. Sweet.

But did he really have no tricks? Nope. He didn’t. The Matriarch could probably counter everything he could come up with.

So he ran, somewhere in his mind, his conscience was bugging him that he was running away like a loser. A forsaken loser who he always was. What has changed about him? Running away from danger, risks and opportunities while fearing failure. Yeah, failure meant death in this case but that did not change that fact that he was fleeing. He predicted that the Matriarch was the guardian of the checkpoint which was nearby which basically implied that she was a walking bank of points and he was running away from her.

Ugh, he hated these nagging thought.

He glanced forward into the never-ending black mist. Yeah, he was a loser. His nickname was apt - ‘Perdant’.

“You are still running?” came the Matriarch’s voice.

He did not want to look back but something made him. He saw the Matriarch standing right behind him with her arms folded.

“You cannot escape my Black Mist - it is my natural magic. It is the sea which I control. It is my domain,” she smiled. “But you are too weak to understand that. Rather, you are too ignorant. You don’t know what resides on your shoulders. That is just so pitiful, but now you have played your part and it is time to bid you farewell. I will give you a quick death while you are still drowned in the bliss of unawareness.”

Alevier’s legs shook. He was instantly reminded of his powerlessness - the same powerlessness which haunted him in that Dungeon a few months ago, the same weakness he displayed in front of the Nightstalker.

She lifted her claws in the air. “Die now, herald of Gods-”

Boom! The ground shook and a yellow light enveloped the two. Alevier felt his body’s weight disappear as he was lifted off his feet. He flew away like a ragdoll only to land a thud on the ground and an awkward crunch which was not heard by him since he was busy sliding and rolling on the ground.

He opened his eyes but spots of blue covered his vision, he blinked and moved his arm to rub his eyes. But as he did that, he realized that his left hand had gone limp. He flicked it and felt a terrible pain. He had twisted it or maybe broken it. He hoped that it was the former, he could easily fix it with his medications. With his other arm, he sat up and as his vision was restored, he saw what had happened.

His gaze was immediately attracted towards the large burning crater and the hoard of students arriving from its sides.

Stupid geniuses and their overpowered spells. They blew away the mist and completed obliterated the Matriarch's Black Mist spell.

A group of fourth-years were attacking the Matriarch and her swarm of Mist Moths. They were probably the best of the fourth-years since they could hold off the Mist Moths all by themselves and honestly, it looked more like the Mist Moths were being pushed back.

"Let's defeat the Guardian!" shouted one student. Others yelled in response and continuously flung different spells at the Mist Moths which looked similar to the Matriarch but they were pure white except for their black eyes and were a little smaller than a normal man.

Well, that should keep the Matriarch occupied. Alevier looked at his hand and thanked his luck in his heart for it had just twisted at an odd angle. He reached out for the bandages and ointment in his sling bag. Then he squeezed the hand between his thigh and calf muscle. He bit his lips and with a painful crunch, he twisted it back into place. Then he began applying enchanted Oil of Wintergreen and other ointments and bandaged his hand along with a few sticks to keep it straight. He applied some healing potions to all his scratches too.

That went smoothly and he quickly packed up, ready to leave. He glanced at the ongoing battle, the Matriarch was being pushed back every time one of her royal guards was teleported out on taking damage.

He snickered at her which was an incredibly bad idea since she noticed him trying to leave. She looked at him with a certain bloodlust which made his spine straighten up. Then she opened her mouth and let out a sharp, blood-curdling scream which made everyone fighting freeze.

Alevier covered his ears and began running away. But suddenly he heard the flapping of wings and Mist Moths - probably the strongest of their kind - began emerging from the fog at random and attacking the students.

So she called reinforcements? Things were going downhill. But when had they not? Alevier shook his head.

“Hurry and kill the Guardian! All of these will disappear if we rid of it,” shouted a fourth-year.

Alevier really thought he should try overloading an ice pike and shooting it towards the Matriarch. But to hell with it! He would die if he was to be fatally injured. And that sounded painfully obvious.

God, he was panicking.

“You aren’t running away!” yelled the Matriarch as she chased him but her path was blocked by the students - they were nastily persistence. Her Black Mist was immediately being dispersed by some kind of light orb which floated beside a student.

“Well, you aren’t running away!” snickered a student as he swung an enchanted sword forcing her to step back.

Regardless of Matriarch's wishes, Alevier kept running; the Mist Moths had not caught up to him and were still busy trying to help their Matriarch out. Well, some did come after him and one appeared in front of him smiling wickedly.

“Die!” he said as he thrust his blade like fingers at Alevier.

Alevier simply fell and slid under the momentum of his running, dodging the sharp blade. The Mist Moth was about to follow up with another attack but an ember bullet him square in the chest and he disappeared into a flash of blue light.

Alevier looked back and saw that the third-years had joined in the battle. And that included Isella and Co. He saw her prepare another ember bullet and aim at another one of his many pursuers.

“What are you looking at?” yelled Jaysaun from the distance. “Run! We will meet up on the way!”

Alevier did as he was told. Maybe Jaysaun had a plan and that was great because he did not have one. As soon as Alevier entered the fog once again, he cast illumination spells and rushed in the opposite direction. That would keep the Moths chasing him occupied. Maybe all Moths could not sense him so he might lose some of them in the fog.

He ran on for a while in no particular direction huffing and puffing before realizing what he was doing.

‘Where the hell am I going?’ he slammed his palm on his face. He stopped in his tracks and caught his breath before thinking about how he should get out. Then an idea popped up in his head - he basically had to go in the opposite direction of the checkpoint which was a region of high mana concentration. If he could find the mana gradient in the air, he could figure out how to get out of this fog! From there he could easily find the road.

But he was not a sensor who was born with an extraordinary mana perception so he would have to walk a considerable distance to gauge the change in mana. Somethings were just so inconvenient. He used a spell and planted his grimoire in the ground - since it was spiritually connected to him, he could use it as a landmark and he did not need to worry about it getting stolen either.

He began walking at a face pace. He had to hurry lest some stray Mist Moth finds him.

After he was sure that he had covered some fifty odd yards, he closed his eyes and tried to sense the mana around him. He repeated the exercise, each time returning to his grimoire and changing the direction of where it was facing to where the mana density was the least. After some minutes, he figured out the right direction and began walking towards it with a smile of satisfaction on his face.

He jogged for a while before he heard a muffled shout. “Damn you!”

For a moment he thought a Mist Moth had caught up to him and his smile died down but it bugged him that the voice felt human and slightly familiar.

Then he heard a shallow, almost inaudible whisper, “You cannot defeat me with your handsss, human.”

Okay, that was definitely from a Mist Moth and from its cocky tone which could travel through this fog, the person facing them was in trouble.

So… what should he do now? Should he keep running towards the end of the fog or risk it saving the other person.

Maybe it was his guilt of running away from things or his childhood fantasies of being a hero that made his legs move on their own and he ran towards the voices.

When he arrived at the scene he saw the person barely standing on their feet while their body was covered in wounds visible through their torn cloak which had blotches of crimson all over it. None of the wounds looked fatal but the collective damage was heavy and they were bleeding, it was only a matter of time before the person got teleported out. He could not recognize their hooded face through the fog but they had a familiar aura around them.

“I am fffffassster, no matter how powerful you are, it isss no ussse ifff you can not hit me,” said the Mist Moth as he floated around the person. The Moth was difficult to distinguish from its white background but Alevier’s eyes could follow him since it had made its presence noticeable.

“Let me end you!” exclaimed the Moth as it swooped up to dive and deliver the finishing blow.

“Ah,” whispered the person in a weak voice as they fell on one knee. “Some… one... help.”

Alevier immediately ran towards the person. He did not have the time to chant a mana shield and if the person were to be teleported out, all his efforts would be for nought, rather he would be bringing more trouble onto himself. His best bet was to use his body as a shield for them and take out the Moth in the process as well. He did not know why he was doing such a stupid thing, but his body had already moved before his mind could act.

The Mist Moth fell from the sky stretching out his claws in front and smiling villainously following a slanted trajectory.

Damn. From the looks of it, the Moth had noticed him and sped up a little as a result. But it was obvious - he was going to be too late at this pace, so he reflexively put all the power in his legs and performed the most heroic leap of his life hoping for the best.

And thank heavens, he was able to intercept the Moth. He watched the world turn as he leapt towards the person and pushed them away. The claws of the Moth dug into his shoulder and came out from the back, and the momentum slammed him into the ground just after the person was knocked back. It was a good thing that his neck avoided the blades/claws.

Alevier and the Moth rolled a few times before coming to a stop.

“You!” the Moth was furious and tried to pull out its claws to attack once again. But Alevier reacted just as quick and grabbed the bloody claw with his good hand. Then he pumped in some mana to perform his ‘Blazing Hand of Complementary Damage’ Magic (Yes, he had named it that) and his hand burst into flames as the air around it was superheated. The Mist Moth screamed out as the fire burnt him before disappearing into a flash of blue.

As soon as the Moth disappeared, Alevier’s attention immediately shifted to the next burning matter - he quickly shook his now charred hand to put out the fire and used his other hand which was mostly healed but still covered in bandages to fetch out two vials of haemostasis potion from his sling bag. It was really difficult and painful but he managed. He clumsily poured one on his injured shoulder and one on his hand, whatever remained was used on the scratches. There was a hot sensation accompanied by a sizzling sound as they began healing at a visible pace. Great.

The thing with healing with magic and potions was that one's body develops a resistance to it if a strong dose is given regularly. But a more appropriate word for it should be 'reluctance' in his opinion after he did a little advance research in this field a few days ago. The magic and the potions forcibly cause the body to overwork and heal the injury faster. They cause the body to forcibly use up its nutrient reserves and due to this the body becomes weaker and the effect of magic and potions decrease.

With powerful healing spells, if the body lacks the necessary materials to heal, then the spell uses its own mana to create matter and fix the injury. But what comes from Mana must return to Mana, therefore after some time, the materials conjured disappear into the thin air causing some serious damage. Therefore, some mages cover the injury with organic material before treating it.

On the other hand, potion stimulates and - usually - provide the necessary materials to mend the injury. However, the materials, not being pre-processed by the body, do not synergies well in large quantity and that slows the process of healing.

But whatever the case, unnatural healing takes a toll on the body. It grows more reluctant to heal and thus, resistance towards these potions and spells increase.

Alevier moved his body which felt heavier than before. If he keeps getting injured this way, even the best potions won’t be able to help him. He checked once again and the injuries were reduced to light scars. Well, he couldn’t hope for better.

Now it was time to help that person out. He straightened up and saw the person barely able to hold themselves up to look at him. Almost instantly, he cursed under his breath. His grey eyes gazed right into those piercing green eyes which looked equally shocked. He recognized that choppy hairstyle which he had mistaken for a hood. Damn his luck, it was Lueirby!

* * *

‘Misfortune pours,’ thought Alevier. It was a quote from a book he had read lately and for some reason, this quote was bugging him. He did not spare a glance at Lueirby who dragged her feet beside him while using her staff as a support.

Apparently, she had already defeated several Mist Moths but had exhausted her reserves in doing so and thus, when the latest Mist Moth bumped into her after she heard the screech of the Matriarch, she was forced to battle with her hands. Since the Mist Moth could hide and attack swiftly from blind spots, she was wounded multiple times and was on the verge of collapsing. And that is when Alevier just happened to be passing by.

After his use of healing potions on her which oscillated between stingy and generous, she had mostly recovered but was weakened and exhausted. He had reluctantly given her a stamina potion so she could have some energy to keep herself going.

The worst part was that she, too, was reluctant in welcoming his aid, she refused his potions so he literally had to dump it over her. She hissed at him and tried to drive him away but fell back down due to weakness before he tossed another potion on her head. A part of it went to waste, but whatever, he healed her despite her hissing. Heck, she did not even accept the spare cloak he was giving her, but when he told her that she would only be embarrassing herself by walking around clothes a little too worn out to keep one's dignity, she accepted it with a sour look.

(AN: I could not frame it better, if anyone has suggestions, leave them in the comments.)

Well, damn her. He only wanted to make his interference meaningful therefore he helped her.

He had thought of parting ways, but looking at how miserably she was able to stand up, he gestured her to follow him. But this arrogant little shit won’t listen to him, much less thank him for saving her. There was a special place in hell for her. Alevier turned and prepared to leave but then he heard a thud and saw her fall on the ground yet again. The potions must have taken a toll on her.

He thought about how his money had gone to waste. Was it his empathy or his wish to not let his money go to waste; he did not know, but he decided to help her out. He found the staff using some minor divination magic which he was really bad at, but it worked anyway. He returned her staff and pointed in the direction of the supposed exit. He gesticulated it to her that was the way out.

Lueirby quietly got up and proceeded in that direction. Alevier planned on ‘walking with her’ to the end of the mist so that his effort would not go to waste. They walked in silence for a short while before she spoke up, “Why are you following me?”

Alevier sighed in his mind. He had a quick internal debate over whether his money was worth watching Lueirby fail. He briefly thought about attracting some Mist Moths just so he could metaphorically slap some sense into her. Well, he could physically slap her right now, but it was not worth the effort.

So he just did what the weird part of his brain said, he hastened his pace and stood in front of her and blurted out like an antihero lead who was just too smart for this world. “It is you who are following me.”

A part of him thought how much of a heinous mastermind he was, while another part told him that he was an embarrassment and his actions were lame enough to make a person wake up from a ten-year coma just so they could roll their eyes at him.

Lueirby’s expressions twitched for a moment. Maybe she was too weak to beat the hell out of him, but she did not lash out. She simply stopped walking and leaned on the staff, giving him an angry glare.

Alevier did not move either. The two locked their eyes in an intense battle of expressing disgust and anger through their stares. Neither of them blinked for a whole minute. And it was a terribly long minute.

Why was Alevier doing this again? Oh yeah, he wasted some money on her. But now he decided that if she tried to walk over him again, he will definitely ‘Blazing Hand of Complementary Damage’ her face and this time, there would be no Jarkiso to stop him.

But he broke out of his fantasy as he heard the sound of something whip through the air.

Jarkiso’s quote popped up in his head: “If you heard something cut through the air and if you are not aware of where it is coming, the best move is to duck and roll to your left.”

And that is exactly what he did - duck and roll! Then he heard something crash on the ground. He quickly pulled out his grimoire and straightened himself. A Mist Moth emerged from the dust cloud which was formed as a result of its failed assault. It was fairly close to him and there was only a moment’s delay before the outstretched claws reached him.

Alevier could not really cast magic that fast so he did the next best thing: he grabbed his grimoire and slapped the damn book on the creature’s face. It was too unexpected, even for the Moth, maybe that is why he could not react in time and was swatted back.

Alevier was not in a mood to burn his hand again so he used his other Magic which could be used as an offence - ‘The Freezing Palm of Frostbites’ as soon as he grabbed hold of the Mist Moth.

Praise to unstructured magic! The Moth disappeared after being touched by it. Alevier was much better with his cooling unstructured magic but it had little offensive power so he hardly used it in a fight. Heck, even his heating Magic was not so potent, the only reason he used it was because he could heal his palm and had plenty of mana and spiritual force and it was quick.

It was great that the Moths had to be just touched by magic to be defeated. Lucky him that he figured it out.

He straightened himself and warmed his hand which looked blue from the cold; not much damage had been done. He glanced at Lueirby who had fallen on her butt. He stretched out his other hand towards her and said, “I think it would be mutually beneficial for us to walk together.”

She did not take his hand and stood with the help of her staff. She did not look at him again as she began walking.

Alevier quietly withdrew his hand.

“The exit is this way,” he tried to hide his smile while pointing in another direction. She stopped for a moment and turned. Then she hesitantly began walking in the said direction while her head hung low.

The two walked side by side for what felt like a very long time, but in truth, it had been something a little more than half an hour since Alevier had escaped the Matriarch - it was just how monotonous walking in the mist felt like. He wondered how was the battle going on against that giant Magical Creature.

Well, he had escaped her and that was enough for him. But then all of a sudden an announcement echoed across the mist, “The Guardian of the First Checkpoint has been defeated.”

And then the mist suddenly began dissipating and the surroundings became clearer. To Alevier’s surprise, he did not find himself on the open road again but under a rocky ceiling. Oddly, the ground had grass and there was something like a miniature sun hanging from the high roof.

How the hell did they get in this cave? Surely, he had not been drugged.

“Oh,” it suddenly hit Alevier. “Guess we fell into a trap.”

“No, look there is the road,” said Lueirby as she pointed at a dark tunnel in the wall behind them. Alevier turned and saw it - a bricked road lay in front of them and went down the tunnel before disappearing into the darkness.

He looked around and saw nothing but rocky walls surrounding the whole grassy area. It seemed like a weird underground setting. Maybe they were on the right track.

He looked back at the tunnel. The light from the miniature sun or whatever it was made some eerie shadows in there. Alevier’s mind instantly made him say, “No. It is totally not leading to a good place.”

Lueirby said nothing, her head was hanging low and her expressions were hidden by shadows.

He looked around once again to find an exit. After a whole minute of examining the walls, he concluded that they were trapped. No shit.

“Okay, whatever,” he said. “Let’s just keep going.”

He did not want to be trapped with Lueirby in here, he’d rather choose to walk down that scary tunnel than wait for her to be back in shape. Who knows what she will do to him once she is able to perform magic again?

But firstly, he chanted a spell and a blob of light shot into the tunnel driving all the darkness away. He smiled, nothing attacked when he lit up the tunnel so it was safe.

* * *

Yeah, the tunnel was safe if one did not count the fabulous Blue Glue Spiders along with their sticky webs and the lovely Sonic Bats which had made Alevier’s ear bleed more than once.

Lueirby helped too, she could perform magic again but her flashy spells only attracted unwanted attention. Which meant that she was being a burden. And Alevier had to continuously hint it to her for some time before she realized this.

A burden to the perdant, what a joke! He snickered in silence as he cast another illumination spell which flew off in the distance enlightening the tunnel further.

“I can feel the mana get thicker,” said Alevier. “We will part once we reach the checkpoint.”

The duo walked down the tunnel.

A few dead-ends, pitfalls and water breaks later, their path began to widen and finally opened up into a very large, dimly lit cavern. He was not joking, it was a literally a large cave with sharp stalactites and stalagmites scattered across its high ceiling and on the perimeter of the tiled floor.

In the centre of the large room was a huge pillar which looked quite plane at first glance but if one were to look closely, it was riddled with glyphs and runes. And Alevier, despite not being a sensor felt it emit Mana from such a distance. It was definitely a checkpoint - only it was not quite similar to what was described to them.

"Is that a checkpoint?" asked Alevier.

"I don't know," replied Lueirby in a hushed whisper.

"Why are you whispering?"

"Because of that," she pointed at something next to the pillar. Alevier had mistaken that thing for a huge boulder. Yeah, a six-metre tall boulder lying next to a pillar made no sense but his mind simply skipped over its absurdity. And now that Lueirby had pointed it out, he slowly realized that thing was a living creature - it was an Earth Toad to be exact.

Earth Toads were dangerous magical creatures, of course, they were huge yet moved quickly and had magical defences. They could snatch a person with their tongue and gulp them down in less than a second. This one seemed asleep. And that was a good thing.

All Alevier had to do was to quietly move around this creature and exit from the tunnel on the other end of the room. As for how did he know it was the exit? Well, it had a glowing exit sign right next to it which could be seen quite clearly from where he was standing.

It was an easy simple plan. After meeting the Matriarch and having his recall-ward broken, he really wished to get to safety as soon as possible. But all things don't go as planned.

"Ah! Vymer, I think some people have arrived," said someone from the shadows

Shit.

"Great, we can ask for their help," came Fobas's voice as he walked out of the shadows upon his giant lizard. Alevier came in his view and their eyes locked instantly.

"Oh," he smiled maliciously. "Look! I found a fucking perdant. Guys, come. We have someone to make a bitch of."