Chapter 828 Barracks Trip: Bullies And The Chimera
"Hurry up!" Vahn, the cocky three-tailed Fox Spirit shouted at Gio. Gio lagged behind. He had been 'graced' with holding all of his groups' things. Gio looked worse for wear. The circles under his eyes were dark. The three three-tailed members were cockily pushing forward. Gio let out a grunt as he tried to push himself forward. The weight of everything pushed against Gio, forcing him to crumble onto the ground.
"He fell, again." Iol, goon number 1, informed the other two three-tailed Foxes. Vahn sighed and turned around. He walked over to the tired Gio and knelt down.
"You're the whole reason why we're going to die out here!" Vahn shouted, grabbing Gio's face and lifting it up to look at him. Iol and Cro stood behind Vahn, snickering. "We don't have good times because of you, stupid! You can't even fight well and you expect us to care? You can't pull your own weight here, so why do you expect yourself to gather souls? You're useless. Get up and keep walking."
Vahn pushed Gio's face away, leaving him to hit the dirt. Gio was exhausted. He could barely keep himself awake. Vahn turned and began to walk. Iol and Cro followed after, commenting on how Gio 'wasn't fit to be a soldier.' Gio mustered all of his strength and pushed himself back onto his feet. Vahn, Iol and Cro were certainly the cockiest recruits, but Gio wouldn't allow them to squash his dreams. Gio took a breath and lagged behind the three three-tailed Foxes.
Day 3 quickly came and went. Night came and the group had settled down for the night. Gio tiredly sat away from the fire, eating whatever he could scrounge. He sleepily ate while Vahn, Iol and Cro laughed, loudly without a care in the world. These three were from bigger cities, filled with big people. Their families had thrown them into the soldier program and they were sent out to the Holy Village.
Gio drifted off to sleep without much effort. He had been subjected to staying up all night and watching out for anything. There wasn't much to be afraid of here. Just simple Goblins, wolves, and maybe the occasional Orc.
It was the screams that woke Gio up. The fire was going but the others weren't anywhere to be seen. Gio could hear the screams of Iol. He lifted off his feet in a hurry, pulling the sword lying on the grass beside him as he ran towards the fire.
"Ah!" Cro shouted as he rushed into the camp. Gio began to ask what was wrong when Cro pushed past Gio, pushing him aside. A large thump grew, drawing Gio's attention.
"Begone!" Vahn shouted. A flame ignited in the forest, followed by the howl of something deep. Vahn flew out of the forest, bouncing on the ground as he slid past Gio. Gio looked at Vahn and noticed he had large cuts on him. The wounds sizzled with green liquid.
'Poison?' Gio guessed. Iol screamed, again. Gio pushed himself up and rushed into the forest. 'What happened?' The swirl of energy gathered around Gio. The ivory energy thickened producing an aura.
"Ah!" Iol screamed. A thin pointed tail flew at Iol, crashing into the tree in front of him as he ducked. "Gods, what the hell are you?!?" Iol scrambled onto his feet and took one look at Gio and booked it. The large beast pulled its tail back. Something hissed off to the left of Gio. A loud thump came in front of him. The shadowy, large figure grew closer and a lion's head stared at him.
'A chimera?' Gio gulped. The lion-head, goat body and snaked tailed chimera. 'What's a high ranking monster doing in this forest?' The chimera howled, rushing forward as Gio quickly turned and ran. The snake tail lashed forward, widening its jaws as it went in for the bite.
Gio ducked, rolling forward as the snake tail flew past Gio. He grabbed his sword, pulling at it as the Chimera leapt forward, hitting Gio in the leg. Crack! Gio yelped loudly. He pulled himself up onto his feet and stumbled forward.
'We can't fight this thing!' Gio thought. He began to scrawl the rune for beacon when Vahn appeared, pushing him to the side.
"No!" Vahn shouted. "I won't fail because of you! You can die for all I care!" Gio's writing fizzled, exploding into a blast of light, blinding everyone around him. Vahn and Gio screamed as the Chimera howled in pain.
"Lee! You can switch with someone else! C'mon!" Keng shouted from below. Lee Seng had sat up here all day. He watched the quiet forest while he munched on the last remaining bits of his fruit pile. "Lee! Come have dinner, too! I'm sure—" A strange energy made the twins turn and looked behind them. It wasn't a beacon of light, but a bomb of energy that fluttered outwards.
Lee Seng was already running and jumping by the time Keng snapped out of it.
"Lee! Wait for me!" Keng shouted, sprinting after him. Lee Seng and Keng flew soared through the air. Lee Seng opened a portal and flew through it. Keng followed after and the two appeared closer to the area. "What was that? Do you think that was a beacon?"
"That was not a beacon." Lee Seng replied. Ivory colored energy fluttered around in the sky like dust. It touched Lee Seng, who immediately, looked downwards. "Come forth, Sun Blade." Lee Seng's hand was barely wrapped around the weapon when he dropped.
Keng followed after him, summoning Hydrosphere. The howls of the Chimera grew loud as they listened to cursing.
"You imbecile! You shouldn't have fucking done that! We're both dead now!" Vahn shouted. He kicked at Gio, who cried out in pain. The chimera shook the blindness off and readied itself for the kill. The snake tail shot forward for Vahn, biting into his shoulder and pinning him down. The Chimera rushed forward, baring its sharp and poisonous fangs as it went in for the kill.
'Is this… it?' Gio wondered. He watched the tree tops. 'Gods… Anyone… Please save me…' A golden light exploded from the sky, wrapping around Gio as the Chimera slammed into the light. Lee Seng's tails whipped forward, slamming into the Chimera and pushing it backwards.
A silver light exploded nearby, burning the snake tail. The snake retreated, only to be met with the hot blade of Lee Seng's weapon. The chimera shrieked as it jumped backwards.
"Someone… came for us…?" Gio weakly asked. "The rune… it exploded, though… How did it work…?" Keng lifted his hand, pointing at the Chimera as a bunch of runes exploded. Sharp metallic objects flew out, encasing themselves with fire. The metallic bullets showered the Chimera with cuts and burns as it backed itself out.
"A little bit celestial flame here…" Lee Seng whispered as he twirled the sword. Flames ignited across the blade as Lee Seng raised it. "And a little bit of this…" Lee Seng pushed energy to the sword, setting it ablaze in gold and starry fire. Lee Seng rushed out of the golden light, horizontally swinging the Sun Blade outwards at the Chimera. "Crescent Stance: Celestial Slash!"
The sword embedded itself onto the chimera's thick skin, burning through it and exploding. The forest lit up in fire and light, eating the Chimera in a single hit. The Chimera screamed in pain as Lee Seng jumped back into the safety of the light.
"You're gonna burn the forest down." Keng commented. He raised Hydrosphere, only to see Lee Seng lift his hand up.
"Hold on." Lee Seng told him. The fire ate away at the Chimera, who endlessly screamed. The heat grew and Keng grew more uneasy about it. "One… Two… Three." Lee Seng opened the palm of his hand and watched the flames fly into his hand until their was nothing left. A charcoal husk of the chimera was all that was left.
[1 Chimera has been slain. An increased 2450 souls have been added to the Soul pool! 8,075/1,000,000]
"W-what was that…?" Vahn stuttered. Keng looked down at Vahn, who was trembling. "W-who are you?"
"The Savior Leaders. I guess you weren't paying attention that day you met us." Keng answered. Vahn gulped and looked at Lee Seng. He had turned and focused on Gio.
"This is going to hurt but we need to snap it back into place." Lee Seng told Gio.
"B-but— AHH!" Gio screamed in pain. Lee Seng snapped Gio's leg back into place and quickly poured light into his broken leg. Gio felt his mouth freeze in place as he froze.
"Don't want you to bite your tongue off." Lee Seng smiled. "Hold still for a bit, 'kay?" Lee Seng stood up and turned to look at Keng.
"Where's your other members?" Keng asked Vahn.
"O-over there…? T-they ran away." Vahn stuttered. Keng nodded and began to walk off when Vahn grabbed Keng. "If it weren't for Gio, we wouldn't have been attacked by the Chimera! H-he's the one who caused us to forfeit!" Keng stopped and looked down at the scared Vahn. Keng's eyes shimmered and he pulled his leg away from Vahn.
"You didn't want to be saved?" Keng asked.
"It was Gio's fault! He pulled the trigger! I-I had it!" Vahn replied. He scrambled onto his knees and put his hands together, begging to Keng. "Please! It wasn't any of our intentions! I swear!"
"And if I ask everyone else, they'll say the same thing?" Keng asked.
"Over there and there." Lee Seng marked the rough areas where Gio and Vhan's members were. Keng nodded and turned.
"Sir, you gotta—"
"Just wait until we gather everyone around." Lee Seng told Vahn.