339. Clone Convalescence

The clone was lost.

A vast flatland expanded far and wide. The blades of grass were but blurring specks beneath her. Even after a few days of travel, she wasn’t able to accomplish her task. She luxuriated in knowing that the Primeval Demon hadn’t yet been seen beyond the borders of Inoria. But she couldn’t lie and say that languor wasn’t catching up to her.

Despair settled in as the first vestiges of the idea of surrendering and returning to the original crept into the clone’s mind. Perhaps Edithe was never with the adventurer army in the first place. Perhaps this task had been all for naught.

But her doubts vanished when she spotted the convoy. There had to have been tens of thousands of figures moving about. An army.

There, the clone thought. This is my destination… maybe.

“Hurry up! Get a move on! We want to be at the Helbir Plains by the morrow!”

A burly man barked the order as the adventurers rushed about the camp. It was early in the morning, and no one wanted to be up at this time of the day. But they had a schedule to keep. A scrawny man— probably a [Mage]— ran past the burly man with a stack of books in his arms.

“Excuse me, excuse me—”

“Oi, what are you doing?!”

The [Mage] flinched, stumbling back as the burly man whirled on him. The books clattered on the ground.

“W-wha…?”

“Go and do something useful, you damn [Mage]! You aren’t helping no one with your books!”

The burly man roared. The [Mage]’s eyes grew wide as he began to sputter.

“B-but my team has already—”

“Excuse me, Sirs. Is there a problem here?”

A booming voice interrupted the both of them. The burly man spun around, frowning.

“Who the—”

And paused when he caught sight of the looming shadow. A hulking green mass of muscle stood before the burly man. There was a pair of arms folded together disapprovingly as another set of arms held up a stack of wooden planks.

It was a Cyclops.

“Well?”

The Cyclops asked, furrowing his brow. The burly man hesitated as he looked up at the single eye.

“I… yes. I was just telling this gentleman right here that his efforts would be better used elsewhere.”

There was a smile. A clear lie. The Cyclops shook his head, addressing the burly man who didn’t even reach his shoulders.

“Tell me, Sir: are you affiliated with the Remembered Order Company?”

“I-I am a part of the Silver Vanguard.”

“Then if you are not with the Remembered Order Company, I do not believe this independent adventurer here has any obligation to listen to your orders.”

The Cyclops gestured at the [Mage] who nearly squeaked. The burly man just nodded placatingly.

“Why of course. I was simply offering him some advice. I assure you, there will not be trouble here, Sir.”

“Jaakko.”

“Pardon?”

“You may simply call me Jaakko.”

“R-right.”

The burly man shrank back as the Cyclops replied curtly. Then spinning around, Jaakko spoke for every onlooker to hear.

“Good. Now that that’s resolved, please everyone, proceed about your business.”

—--

“He really went in and got involved, didn’t he?”

Zack sighed, cleaning his glasses as he watched his leader from afar. Beside him, Helen just rolled her eyes.

“Of course he would. He wouldn’t be our leader if he didn’t have a strong sense of justice.”

“More like a strong sense of being a busy-body.”

“Everything’s resolved without an issue. Why do you always have to complain, Zack?”

“I’m not complaining. I’m just saying, the last time he got himself involved in someone else’s business, we ended up trapped in a [Witch]’s hut for three whole days.”

“It was more like six hours, Zack. Stop over exaggerating things.”

Helen scowled, and Zack pushed his glasses back onto his face.

“You get what I mean. We’re inviting trouble.”

“And yet—”

The Cyclop’s deep voice spoke over him.

“We’re doing what’s right.”

Jaakko patted both his teammates with his two free hands. They looked up at him, and Zack sighed.

“I knew you were going to say that.”

He adjusted his glasses as he shook his head. The trio stood there in the middle of the bustling encampment. Jaakko, Helen, and Zack. They were adventurers— independents who were affiliated with any company. And yet, at the call of one of the Three Honorable Companies, they came.

The Remembered Order Company had swept through the Eastern Kingdoms, gathering any and every adventurer they could. Zack and his team had been dealing with a Manticore threat for the Kingdom of Traith before Jaakko caught wind of this. So they joined the adventurer army. And now, they were on their way to the Helbir Plains to meet up with both the Rising Veterans’ and the Forsaken Company’s own armies.

Zack shrugged.

“Look, I just want to know what you would’ve done if that loud man was actually part of the Remembered Order Company. Because I highly doubt you would’ve backed down, would you?”

“I would not, yes.”

Jaakko agreed simply. Zack knew that was the case. Their team would always get in trouble, no matter where they were. Usually, they’d be able to somehow resolve it— especially with their status. But here?

“There are hundreds of Platinum Ranks other than us here, Jaakko. Maybe even thousands. We won’t get a pass this time around if we cause trouble.”

Zack glanced around the encampment as it was slowly emptied out. A few faces glanced their way, curious. It was quite disconcerting, honestly. They were Platinum Ranked now. But they were a Gold Ranked team not long before, and they’d be quite content with their levels and strength then. It was only after they’d met that strange woman, the Savior of Silvergrove and Death of the Destroyer, Salvos, did they begin taking more risks.

She’d inspired them. The way she’d fought in the Silkfall Crevice Dungeon had stunned the team. Made them reevaluate how they saw themselves. What they wanted to become. Since then, they worked harder. Fought stronger monsters. Pushed themselves past their limits— even to the point where some would call them mad.

It paid off. They were now around Level 80. And if they kept this up, they might even reach Level 100 in two or three years’ time. And while being Level 80 was quite an accomplishment for an ordinary individual, in the grand scheme of things, they were just fodder.

A single low-leveled Diamond Rank could easily take on Zack and the rest of his team multiple times over. They couldn’t compete, at all. Especially if the Diamond Ranked had a high-leveled second Class.

Jaakko didn’t budge.

“And yet, someone has to stand for what’s right.”

“You…”

Zack pinched the bridge of his nose. Helen snorted.

“We’re arguing over nothing— as usual. Come on, we should really get a move on. We’re going to be reaching the Helbir Plains soon.”

Jaakko grunted, turning around. Zack eyed Helen as the encampment was finally fully dismantled, and the adventurer army led by the Remembered Order Company made their way through a valley.

There were tens of thousands of adventurers here, behaving far more organized than adventurers had any right to be. But no one complained. The stakes were clear, and the reason they gathered together was simple.

Money.

That almost made Zack want to laugh. The Remembered Order Company had struggled rallying the adventurers in the Eastern Kingdoms until they offered a massive recruiting bonus for every company or independent that joined their forces. Such was the motivation behind most adventurers— the silver, gold, or platinum they’d earn.

Zack’s team was different, of course. But they were the outlier, mostly because of Jaakko’s honor and Helen’s kindness. Zack himself had to find himself reining the two so they wouldn’t get into too much trouble and actually prioritized making some money.

However, Zack didn’t see glory or gold in this quest they were setting out on. He only saw death, despair, and doing what was necessary to save the Human lands. The Primeval Demon had to be stopped. If not, then everyone would suffer. There’d be no point in any monetary value Zack had.

They streamed their way over the landscape as the day dragged on, following alongside a river as a city made itself barely visible in the darkening horizon. It was already evening, so they would likely be stopping there to rest.

“That’s Westshield.”

Helen pointed out. Her lips curled up into a smile.

“It means we’re arriving at Shedos’ borders now. We’ll be entering the Helbir Plains soon…”

Zack could tell that she was excited. And he couldn’t lie and say he wasn’t a little bit eager to meet up with the other adventurer armies. After all—

“Think she’ll be with the Rising Veterans?”

He asked, and Helen blinked.

“You mean Salvos?”

“Who else would I be talking about?”

“Maybe?”

She replied uncertainly. He wondered aloud as he walked next to her.

“I’m sure she’d be impressed by how far we’ve come…”

They were now higher-leveled than Salvos was when they last met her. Zack couldn’t lie and say he wasn’t proud of that. But Helen wasn’t.

“You heard the news. She’s the Liberator of the Plaguelands now. She’s probably Elite at this point.”

“Well, of course. I didn’t mean to compare us to that insane woman.”

Zack waved a hand off, speaking much to Helen’s chagrin.

“Salvos is not insane. She’s just a poor girl who was forced into extraordinary circumstances, alright?”

“Sure, sure. That’s just your older-sister-side showing.”

She scowled as Zack chuckled. The pair continued to chat, following Jaakko who didn’t partake much in the conversation. Then they almost ran into the Cyclops when he came to a halt. His single eye narrowed as he stared at the city.

“What’s wrong, Jaakko?”

Helen asked with a raised brow. Their leader leaned forward, speaking softly.

“Is that… smoke?”

Zack blinked. He immediately cast a spell of Enhance Vision. It was like he was looking through a spyglass. And he saw gray streaks blotting out the sky over the city. Then he saw the specks— the figures— assailing it. His breath was caught in his throat.

“Westshield is under attack!”

A voice bellowed for the entire army to hear. It was Mori Gladius. Leader of the Remembered Order Company. He was an Elite. A famed [Spearmaster]. He raised a glinting spear, rallying the adventurers into battle.

“To arms! We face the Primeval Demon today!”

A susurration ran through all those gathered. They weren’t ready. No one was prepared to face the Primeval Demon just yet. They’d thought they’d have reinforcements. That the other Honorable Companies would be with them. That they’d be triple or even quadruple their current number.

It seemed foolish to act now. But they saw the destruction happening before their eyes. Westshield was under siege. They had to move, even if they didn’t want to.

Zack found himself nervously flipping through his spellbooks as they marched straight for Westshield. He wasn’t sure what he’d even be able to contribute in this fight. Would it be a full engagement? A quick battle before pulling back? Maybe they were just going to divert the Primeval Demon’s attention?

There were a multitude of possibilities. But Zack didn’t have a say on the matter. All he could do was trust that Mori Gladius knew what to do. The adventurer army moved straight for the city as its walls crumbled. As an explosion shook the earth. There was a flash— a bright light cut through the smoke and the clouds.

It couldn’t have been long since the attack started, but the city was already falling. Zack spotted monsters of all kinds— from [Gatho Mammoths] to Chimeras to Drakes. There were undead too. And the Mindreapers everyone knew about.

These were just the Platinum Ranked threats. That wasn’t to consider everything else in the army. It sent a chill down Zack’s spine. The closer they got to the fighting, the bigger the pit in his stomach grew. He swallowed and licked his dry lips. He wasn’t the only one who was afraid. Everyone’s nerves worsened as another blast rocked the earth.

But before they even reached the city, there was a shout. A panicked scream. Zack’s head snapped to the side as spells and arrows were loosed into the air. He spotted a golden flicker— a glowing figure dodging the attacks, flying over the army.

Mori Gladius yelled at them to stop.

“Do not attack! That is an ally!”

His words calmed the nervous army. Their attacks ceased as the glowing figure hovered in the sky, staring at the destruction in silhouette. Zack almost thought it was familiar. It stayed there for a moment, before glancing down. It stared straight at Zack, and he jerked back.

“Why is it—”

Helen’s eyes grew round.

“That’s…”

And the glowing figure descended. It landed next to Jaakko, Zack, and Helen. The three adventurers just looked at it for a moment. The Cyclops was the least put-off by its presence, while the [Archer] gasped. Zack was confused— the only one left out of the loop. Finally, after a quick [Identification], Zack realized what he was looking at.

“You’re… Salvos?”

The glowing figure beamed at them. She spread her arms wide for a hug. Zack wasn’t sure how to react to this flaming apparition of the adventurer he’d met twice before. But he didn’t need to say anything. Because Mori Gladius interrupted them.

The leader of the Remembered Order Company stepped up to the Salvos clone.

“Interesting. I was curious as to who you were a clone of— I have heard of such Skills,although they are incredibly rare. But to think that you are the Liberator of the Plaguelands. Your presence is a boon to us.”

She nodded excitedly. He shook his head, turning to the city under attack. Then he offered her a hand.

“Will you aid us in repelling the Primeval Demon from the city, Salvos?”

For a moment, she just stared at him. At his proffered hand. Then she snapped her fingers. Five more golden figures appeared behind her. More clones. They gave him a thumbs-up in unison.

“Good. Then let us fight and save Westshield from its destruction.”

Zack watched as they came to an agreement. An unexpected ally appeared. One who’d aid them in facing the Primeval Demon here and now. It was almost reassuring. The adventurer army seemed to be bolstered by Salvos’ presence. Or, at least, the presence of her six clones.

And yet, Zack didn’t sigh in relief. He saw the flash once again— like thunder. And he feared that… it wasn’t enough.