WIEDERGEBURT Read online

  “Perish?” Hreidmar snorted as he readied his battle-axe, holding it in a two-handed grip, with one hand on the lower half and the other up near the axe head. “I’d like te see ye try, Orurk the Overlord Slayer. Ye might have been able to slay Lord Goldemar, but that was only because ye had caught us unaware and he was already injured from his battle against yer blasted lords. A pathetic cretin who can’t fight in a fair confrontation is about as big a threat as a Snug.”

  Snugs were tiny creatures that resembled balls of fluff. Their most notorious features were their large mouths and big tongues, which they used to lick people. I’d seen some Dweorg children playing with them back in Jordiskger. The biggest danger they posed was of the tickling variety.

  Orurk snorted, black fumes of strange miasma blowing from his nose. “Do not think your insults will have any effect on me, little Dweorg. I am not so stupid that I would lose myself to anger over the words of a foolish king whose equally foolish race refuses to realize when they have been bested.”

  Anger radiated from Hreidmar’s trembling body. I could sense that he was seconds from attacking, so I stepped in front of the man and glared up at the massive figure of Orurk.

  “So the little half-breed steps forward.” Orurk grinned down at me. “Are you offering yourself up as a sacrifice? You should know that it doesn’t matter what you do. All of you shall perish today.”

  “You and the rest of your kind keep calling me half-breed.” I narrowed my eyes. “Do you know what my other half is?”

  “It is not what your other half is that you should be asking about. That’s the wrong question. And I obviously know what you are.” Orurk rolled his eyes, and then held out his hand, gathering dark energy around it, which soon transformed into a massive halberd. He swung it around, unleashing a powerful gust of wind that blew my hair from my face. “But just because I know what you are does not mean I’m going to tell you. If you don’t know yourself… well, that’s just too bad.”

  I glared at Orurk, but I could tell from how he spoke that he wasn’t going to give me the answers I sought. His arms and legs were shaking. It was barely noticeable, but it was there. I’d sensed it before, but now it seemed obvious.

  These Sekbeists were afraid of me, of whatever I was—or of whatever my other half was? I still had no understanding of my origins. This Sekbeist’s words were confusing, though. He said I was asking the wrong question. What did that mean?

  Before a standoff could really take place, Erica and Tungsten rushed forward, prompting Orurk to attack with an overhead slash. The two darted away from each other as the halberd slammed into the ground between them. Cracks formed as the stone floor collapsed. After breaking apart, the floor was consumed by that dark energy, disappearing as if something had eaten it.

  The two Spiritualists remained undeterred as they closed the distance. Tungsten spun around several times, battle-axe glowing a bright green, while Erica swung her claymore, covered in bright red flames, into the creature’s leg.

  Just before the attacks reached their foe, dark spikes erupted from the shadows and nearly impaled them. Erica and Tungsten were able to escape death, but only just. Tungsten was struck in the face and Erica’s breastplate was hit. Fortunately, the runes on their armor shone brightly and reflected the attacks, though they dimmed seconds later.

  “GRAAA!!”

  Despite being forced back, Erica still managed to push her way through Orurk’s attacks and swung her claymore again, once more covered in brilliant red flames. Her attack had struck the back of Orurk’s left knee. It forced the knee to give, knocking him down into a bent stance. Sadly, because her sword had dug into the Sekbeist’s flesh, she was having trouble pulling it out.

  During this moment, Tungsten spun around once more and tossed the battle-axe, coated in a ferocious aura of wind, at Orurk’s face. It didn’t cut into him. Orurk raised his halberd to block the attack. However, the force behind the strike was enough to knock the monster on his ass.

  “Damn mythril weapons!”

  I didn’t notice it until now, but the runes on Erica’s and Tungsten’s weapons and armor were glowing the same way the Dweorgs’ had. It seemed these runes created some kind of spiritual effect. I knew they would do something, but I was wondering what sort of effect these had. Even with the knowledge I possessed on runes, I honestly couldn’t figure them out. They were too complicated.

  “HAAAA!”

  As I stood there, Hreidmar leapt into the air, his armor and weapons also glowing a fierce golden color much like the material they were made of. He slammed his battle-axe into Orurk’s chest with all his might. The loud reverberation was followed by an incredible shockwave as the ground beneath Orurk cracked. Even Kari and I were forced to bend our knees to absorb the shock from the impact.

  We waited for a moment to see if that attack had done any damage. Just when it looked like Hreidmar’s attack had felled Orurk, the Sekbeist raised a massive hand and slammed it into the Dweorg King. Hreidmar flew off his foe and crashed into a pillar, which collapsed around him, burying him in a pile of rubble.

  “I forgot how annoying Dweorg weapons and armor could be,” Orurk said as he stood to his feet. “But it doesn’t matter if you can negate my darkness. I’ll crush you all the same. Now come! I shall destroy you all right here and now!”

  The halberd made of dark energy appeared again, and Orurk swung the weapon hard, the air unleashing a violent shriek as though it was experiencing incredible pain. Erica and Tungsten quickly dodged the attack by running between the Sekbeist’s legs. However, the halberd released a massive wave-shaped attack that barreled toward Kari and me.

  “Get behind me!” I shouted.

  Kari stepped back while I stepped forward, raising my hand above my head. I gathered a massive amount of Spiritual Power into the Dragon’s Tail Ruler, which began crackling with a combination of lightning and water. Getting the timing down, I swung my weapon just as the wave of darkness was going to overtake me.

  The wave was split in half.

  “Tch!” Orurk clicked his tongue as the two halves of his attack flew off in separate directions. One struck a wall and the other destroyed a pillar. “I suppose I should have expected as much from a half-breed. Even though you haven’t come into your powers yet, you are still annoying to deal with. I’ll take great pleasure in crushing a godling like you.”

  “You’re welcome to try,” I offered.

  At this, Kari and I both rushed forward while Erica and Tungsten attacked each of his legs together. They slammed their claymore and battle-axe respectively into Orurk’s armor. He must have forgotten they were there. His mouth opened in a loud, agonized, and angry yell as their weapons dug into his flesh.

  No longer able to hold himself up, he fell forward, but that was when Kari and I attacked. We stood on the ground where he was going to fall. My weapon was drawn into my chest, where it began glowing with white and blue Spiritual Power. The combination of water and lightning caused a strange effect to occur, which looked like the area around my weapon was distorting the air. Meanwhile, Kari spun and twirled her ranseur around to generate a Spiritual Light Technique powerful enough to match mine.

  I thrust the Dragon’s Tail Ruler forward at the same time that Kari stabbed out her ranseur. From my weapon, a great flash of light and Spiritual Power erupted and coalesced into a massive, cone-shaped beam of crackling bluish-white power. Kari’s Spiritual Light Technique—a golden beam nearly just as big, the Divine Buster Canon—merged with mine to create a tri-colored attack that slammed into Orurk.

  “NNNNGGGGRRRRAAAAA!!”

  Despite being forced onto his knees, Orurk had been able to get his halberd up in time to block our attack, but even with that, our Spiritual Technique, a combination of three elements, continued to push against him. His teeth were grit behind snarling lips. The veins on his arms bulged as he struggled not to get pushed back. Yet as he continued to fight against our technique, bright lines of white spread along his weap
on, until at last, it shattered. At the same time, he had protected himself long enough for our Spiritual Techniques to run out of power.

  “Haaa… haaaa… I’m not going to let myself be killed by pathetic, lesser beings. I’ll murder every last one of you! This is the end,” Orurk growled. Despite saying this, he had fallen onto his hands and knees, and his chest heaved as he struggled to breathe.

  “Yer right. This is the end!”

  Just as this voice rang out around us, a figure dropped from the ceiling. Hreidmar, who must have been waiting for an opening after Orurk tossed him into that pillar, landed on the Sekbeist’s back and swung his battle-axe down with a war cry that reverberated around the interior. His blade didn’t meet any resistance this time. It struck Orurk on the head, piercing through his skull and sending blood spraying all over the floor.

  Hreidmar didn’t even seem to care about the blood coating his armor. He removed the axe from the skull, then swung it down again. The axe glowed vibrantly even while covered in blood as it penetrated even deeper than before.

  Whatever Sekbeists were, whether they were creatures from another realm or invaders from beyond the nine realms, an axe to the skull was enough to kill it. Orurk didn’t even release a death cry as his arms gave out and he fell to the ground. Hreidmar removed his axe from the corpse’s head and leapt off, landing on the ground.

  “I feel like it’s getting easier to kill these things after each fight,” Erica said while taking several deep breaths.

  “Maybe fer ye humans,” Hreidmar grumbled as he looked at the dead Orurk. “Humans have an unusually high capacity fer growth. Part o’ the reason the nine races visited Miðgarðr when the Sekbeists attacked the nine realms is because of that high growth potential. Honestly, if it weren’t fer yer small lifespans, ye humans would be the strongest o’ the nine races.”

  That was news to me, but I didn’t even know what the other races were yet besides Dweorgs. According to Hreidmar, there were Nine Great Races. Humans were one of them, Dweorgs were another, and there were seven more. That was something I wanted to ask Hreidmar about after we returned home.

  “In either event, I think we should open the palace gates,” Kari suggested.

  Hreidmar grunted. “A good idea, if I’ve ever heard one. Let’s not dawdle any longer.”

  I took one last look at the cooling corpse of Orurk before turning toward the throne room’s exit and following after the others.

  The next two days passed with relatively little problems—for a group of Spiritualists hoofing it through the Demon Beast Mountain Range, I mean. There had been no more attacks on my person, though Finn continued to glare at me with hatred in his eyes. I was fairly used to jealous looks by this point. His pathetic glares didn’t even phase me anymore.

  Even so, I wouldn’t deny that I kind of wished he would attack me again so I could catch him in the act and deal with him accordingly. The last time I had been attacked, I’d been too surprised to put up a fight, but that wouldn’t happen now that I was on my guard. Of course, all this was based on the supposition that he was my attacker during that first night. For all I knew, I could be completely off base.

  After traveling through the valley, known to many as the Pteranodon Valley due to the Demon Beasts who hunted there, we moved across the grasslands.

  The grasslands were just a large plain with stalks of grass that were taller than I was. It was hard to see through and easy to get lost in for the unwary. Catalyna had prepared a cord that she had each of us grab ahold of so we wouldn’t accidentally end up separated from each other. It was a good idea, though it came with a small problem.

  Demon Beasts.

  Like the rest of the Demon Beast Mountain Range, the grasslands were home to a variety of different Demon Beasts. There were Dire Wolves, a C-Rank Demon Beast that hunted in packs; Leonids, a large feline Demon Beast with massive paws and sharp teeth, also C-Ranked; and Giant Horned Rabbits, a D-Rank Demon Beast the same height as a full-grown human adult. Of course, all these Demon Beasts were small fry. The true threat was the B-Rank Demon Beasts who made this grassland their territory.

  Chimera.

  Which we had the misfortune of running into, though considering how it ended, I couldn’t say we were really unfortunate. I suppose it depended on who you asked.

  We first realized there was a problem when screams erupted from up ahead of us. It was impossible to see anything because of the grass, but the cord we were holding suddenly became slack. That was the second sign of trouble.

  “Let’s hurry!” I said to Kari, Fay, and Lin. All three of them nodded as they readied themselves. Kari spun her ranseur in her hands, Fay smacked her gauntlets together, and Lin produced a venomous-looking purple whip that hissed as it struck the air. Meanwhile, I already had the Dragon’s Tail Ruler in hand.

  The four of us rushed up the cord and burst into an area that had been cleared of grass barely a second after that. Of course, the reason the area had been cleared wasn’t that no grass was growing there. A massive creature standing on four legs, with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and a serpent's tail was attacking Catalyna, Marko, and her group. Powerful legs swatted several Spiritualists aside. The muscles on its back rippled as it moved, twisting its head and spewing fire that burned the grass to cinders. Catalyna, Marko, Finn, and one other man I didn’t recognize—the heavy hitters—were trying to sneak in behind it, but the serpent’s tail spat black venom at them, forcing them to dodge. The venom hissed as it struck the ground and melted the area around it.

  Acidic venom. Great.

  “Lin! Hit it from a distance!” I shouted. “Kari and Fay, attack from the sides! I’ll hit it from the front!”

  All three girls acknowledged my orders and split off.

  Lin moved further from our group and lashed out with her whip, which extended beyond what its original length entailed and smacked the Chimera across the face. Loud hissing erupted as the venom made from her Spiritual Power burned the Chimera, leaving a nasty-looking scar across its left eye. The Chimera howled and glared at her, but it had more important matters to worry about now.

  I rushed forward and leapt into the air, high over the creature’s head. Channeling my Spiritual Power through the Dragon’s Tail Ruler, I swung the weapon down, which didn’t look like it could reach. But the segments suddenly unlocked and flew apart, turning into a weapon that looked like the tail of a dragon, held together by my Spiritual Power. The tip of my massive weapon soared down from the air in an attempt to pierce the creature’s head, but it must have sensed my attack because it leaped back, letting the tip of my ruler slam into the ground with a resonant explosion of power.

  Unfortunately for the Chimera, it had been so focused on my and Lin’s attacks that it didn’t see Kari and Fay until it was too late. Kari came in from the left, ranseur glowing as she twirled it around her body. She sliced into the creature with the blade of her weapon. An agonized howl erupted from the Chimera as its head jerked back, blood gushing from its eye and staining the ground. While it attempted to retreat, Lin launched her whip forward again, wrapping it around the Chimera’s neck and using her weight and Lamia-given strength to keep it from moving.

  That was when Fay came in and took it down.

  She arrived barely a second after Kari, twisting her right fist into her torso as she moved her hand in a rotational pattern. With the creature’s head being dragged low by Lin, she had the perfect shot, and the moment she’d stepped in so close they were nearly face to face, she launched her attack. The explosion of fire that erupted from her fist went straight through the creature’s left eye and out the other side of its head. When the spiral-patterned flame dispersed, I could see a large hole that went clear through the Chimera’s head.

  The creature slumped to the grassy floor. It was dead.

  “You know, a Chimera has the same threat rank as a Giant Svart,” I said as Kari, Lin, Fay, and I regrouped. “Taking it down means you girls are strong enough to take d
own the creature that attacked us during our first expedition.”

  The three girls looked excited, though I was positive Kari was the most excited and Fay the most relieved. Lin crossed her arms with a haughty expression as she thrust out her chest.

  “Of course we defeated this creature with ease. There’s no way this princess would be done in by some Demon Beast so easily.” Despite how her words and actions made her seem arrogant, the way her tail thumped against the ground gave away her true feelings. That tail of hers reminded me of a dog, wagging whenever it was happy.

  “I’m really surprised,” Fay admitted as she eyed the now dead Chimera. “I expected a B-Rank Demon Beast to be… tougher.”

  “You girls have been training really hard this past month,” I told her. “Not only that, but you’ve been using the alchemy pills I’ve refined to help naturally boost your Spiritual Power and physical prowess. While you are still a ways off from being able to beat an A-Rank Demon Beast on your own, you’re more than capable of fighting a Demon Beast of this level.”

  “I’m glad to see all that training has paid off.” The excited sparkle in Kari’s eyes had yet to diminish, but the relieved smile she wore let me know her true thoughts. “I don’t want to see a repeat of what happened last time.”

  “Me neither,” I admitted.

  “You four!” Catalyna shouted. She, Marko, Finn, and the thirteen other Spiritualists all ran over and began to crowd around us. “That was… amazing! Seriously now. How have you all gotten so powerful? I’m pretty sure Fay wasn’t nearly this strong when we fought in the Spiritualist Grand Tournament!”

  The other Spiritualists apparently agreed.

  “That was seriously incredible!”

  “You four are so strong!”

  “I’ve never seen anyone take down a B-Rank Demon Beast so easily!”