After the incident in the town, the mood between Bin and the other grew more tense and their talks became shorter and shorter. Lenna mostly kept to himself and started suffering from nightmares that woke him in the middle of the night.
Arbert, however, tried to maintain his cheerfulness but his hollow eyes and weary look betrayed his vain attempts.
When they got close enough to the Ghost Cliffs and the towering Elemental Peaks became visible, Arbert finally voiced his deepest thoughts.
It was in the middle of night, as the three were camping in an open and rocky area. Bin was cleaning the blood of the Pests off his clothes, not minding the intense gaze he was getting from Arbert.
Lenna was half-asleep on a corner, h
“The place is crawling with Pests, you can’t be meaning to force your way… r-right?” Arbert anxiously looked at the stoic Bin and spoke with a stuttering voice. Despite steeling his will and trying to learn Magic, Arbert was still afraid of the Pests, especially their ungodly appearance. “Of course not. Attracting their attention will only lead more of them.” Bin sighed and inspected the vicinity of the vast region. The Five Elemental Peaks around the Ghost Cliffs were embedded with colored hues, distinct from each other and clear even with all the violent Demon Energy lingering in the air. However, two of the Elemental Peaks, the ones with a red and blue hues, were slightly dim. “I count no less than twelve
The three of them kept going deeper and deeper into the spacious cave of the Earth Peak. Their encounters with the Ghosts were sparse and mostly uneventful as they were all disposed of by Bin.Lenna and Arbert stayed at the back, both curiously studying the cave and stopping every once in a while to inspect strange shapes and symbols engraved on the walls.Thus, like that, the travelers tread through the treacherous path leading to the Ghost Cliffs. As they had anticipated, it took them a decent amount of time to reach the end and be welcomed by a ghastly sight of numerous eerie small hills, disproportionate and riddled with old and dusty graves.Translucent misty silhouettes were wandering the place, but the most eye-catching thing was the Rift plastered at the center of th
Bin was successful in eliminating the nearby ghosts, however, upon charging at the Lich, he felt a resistant and unstoppable blast that blew him all the way back. The force of the retaliation was so strong that his staff was extinguished and the radiance emanating from his body was instantly consumed by the Death Energy.The Lich did not continue attacking, it stood there and gazed at him in silence.“Even without the arrival of the Akna, the star would still fall. There is no stopping the inevitable, human. Return whence you came and enjoy what’s left of your lives.”The Lich turned around and slowly drifted farther, but it was stopped again as Bin sprung into action. Blood was leaking out of his mouth and that single blow did considerable damage, neverthe
“High Scholar Elmina, I want answers.”Professor Tanna had barged into Elmina’s office, absolutely enraged. She looked as tired as ever but that did not stop her from shouting out loud and causing quite the ruckus.Several scholars chased after Tanna, wanting to stop her, but, ultimately, they failed and had to watch as the short professor kicked the door and barged in. Elmina signaled for them to leave, which they did, leaving her alone with the abrupt guest.“What is the matter, Professor Tanna?”“The Hyper-destructive Blaster, why are you readying it?! The Rift is gone!”“You seem to be misunderstanding som
The closest two peaks were the Earth and Water Peaks, however, the latter was infested with a ridiculous number of Pests. Still, as Arbert and Lenna were taking their sweet time in figuring out a somewhat assured alternative to their dilemma, Bin slowly and carefully made his way toward the Water Peak.The Pests were of no consequence to his brief lonely trip, the only troublesome thing was the abundance of Demon Energy. Thanks to basic but potent Mana Coating, the Light Element was able to protect him from any negative effects, nevertheless, a prolonged exposure to this violent energy would cause a permanent side-effect on the body, as Arbert always liked to say.Each time he broke one or two rifts, Bin would retreat to a relatively safer spot and recuperate. He advanced at a moderate and consistent pace, and within a day, he
At first, Bin expected the human-like creatures to chase after him outside, but they did not. They remained inside the bunker though were unsuccessful in closing down the broken entrance.Confused and slightly surprised by their suicidal desperation, Bin hastily returned to Lenna and Arbert and recounted his recent findings.He had thought they would react in a different way, but the two youngsters remained calm and did not seem surprised by the presence of a bunker.“To begin with, knowledge concerning the Zeala Race inhabiting one of the Elemental Peaks was common. They usually hide their bunkers pretty well, but the appearance of the Rifts and their subsequent effect on the environment as a whole must have exposed their hideout. Anywho…”
Unfortunately, Bin’s recent adventures in the regions surrounding the Elemental Peaks were not enough to stop the continuous and rapid spawning and spreading of the Rifts. The two large Rifts within and above the Ghost Cliffs had too much of an influence, so much that Bin’s ‘clean-up’ wasn’t fast enough.Each time Bin breaks a Rift, two would appear an hour or so later, rendering his efforts obsolete. Nevertheless, his brief one-sided battles against the Pests were the perfect way to test the bracelet’s capabilities.Its sharp metallic tips, those that pierced his wrist, caused him a constant tingling pain, but it was nothing he could not cope with. At first, he was worried that an over-abundance of concentrated Mana flowing from outside directly to his blood streams would consequently lead to disastrous side-effects, however
“I”m not sure about this, Bin…”Arbert was anxiously looking around and trying his best to not look at the corpses of the Zeala. For a better and relatively safer environment, Bin took the two scholars to the bunker.He did his best to put the corpses in one isolated room but the blood traces and buzzing machines made things creepy and unsettling, to say the least.A weak-hearted person like Arbert barely held himself back from leaving the bunker. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Lenna was curious about everything and did not seem to be bothered or mind the aftermath of the Zeala’s collective suicide.Alas, neither of the three travelers were able to use or activate the machines within the bunker. They vainly pressed