Lost Fantasy-The Flowers of Stelis (Arc 2) [Hiatus]

Chapter 38

Kaz pulled the trigger and three regular bolts flew towards the bear's back, embedding themselves into the creature after penetrating through the thick fur, fat, and muscle. Blood slowly seeped out of the wound and the bear slowly went on all fours and turned to face the attackers.

"Get ready!" Tetsuya shouted out to the others as he raised his shield. However, from the corner of his eye, he saw a shadow fly by him.

It was such a quick motion that Tetsuya couldn't believe his eyes. However, there he was, Loganel with his regular sword in hand, rushing at the beast. It would appear that the boy had used a spell of some sort that Tetsuya had witnessed Loganel use prior to this during the battle with the Behemoth and the one time during the Ekeletas Expedition. Five swords made of Mana floated around Loganel, and whenever he attacked, the swords would fly by and deliver a cut to the bear. Tetsuya could only stare in awe at the ease Loganel had while battling the bear by himself. He was terrified as well as he realized the gap that was between the two of them had widened.

"Krieg," Loganel muttered, summoning more swords as the original ones died out. 

Loganel pointed the blade he held in his hand at the bear and the Mana swords that floated in the air around him rushed towards the bear like a barrage of large arrows, penetrating and cutting through tendons and bones. It was as if five skilled swords master were taking on a single bear, with each delivering blow after blow to the bear, almost as if playing with the poor creature to torment it to death. Soon, the whirlwind of swords disappeared, leaving with it a bloodied and mutilated corpse of the bear and it was all over.

"W-what the?" Kaz muttered as his eyes were wide with awe. The others in his party shared a similar reaction as him.

Loganel stared at the slain beast that rested on the snowy ground before him. The blood that had flowed out from the beast had dyed the snow a crimson red, and the colors seemed to spread as more blood seeped out of the carcass of the bear. Loganel himself was quite surprised at how easy it was to control the Mana blades that he had summoned and how devastating they were. He sheathed his blade and then looked down at his hands to make sure that he was still human and not a monster. However, what he discovered was that he may appear human, but something within him has changed.

"T-that was marvelous." Tetsuya was the first to regain his composure to the point that he could speak regularly. "When did you master that spell?"

"I don't know," Loganel responded. "It just...happened."

"Doesn't matter," Tetsuya shook his head and smiled. "If we can have you perform like this, then Vampire slaying won't be a problem." 

Although he was smiling, Tetsuya wanted to cry from frustration. It seemed to him no matter how hard he tried and how long he trained, he can never shorten the gap between him and Loganel. It was as if there's an invisible wall that prevented him from ever nearing Loganel's expertise in combat and all Tetsuya can do is watch as Loganel moved forward and him only able to watch and occasionally take a step forward when the wall backed up a bit. However, when that had happened, Tetsuya realized that he could no longer see Loganel anymore. That is how quickly the gap between them has formed.

"I hope," Loganel awkwardly chuckled as he sensed something to be wrong from his party.

"Good thing I never pissed you off," Kaz added and awkwardly laughed aloud.

"You did owe him some money," Marilin nudged Kaz in the elbow.

"Shhh," Kaz brought a finger to his lips and gestured for Marilin to keep quiet.

"That was awesome," Sheriel added, clapping a little for Loganel.

"Sorry for damaging the skin so much," Loganel frowned as he looked down at the bloodied fur pelt of the bear.

"It's fine," Kaz responded. "We can still get what we need to get."

He then knelt down and pulled out a small knife from its sheath that he hung on his hips. He then skinned the bear and took whatever he could from it such as pieces of bear pelt, bear fangs, and some bear flesh and placed them in a small pouch that he then placed into the small bag strapped onto his waist.

"The pelts we can sell even like this," Kaz responded. "Families that can't afford the entire pelt will buy it. The fangs people will take for decorations and the flesh we can sell to butchers."

"Good to hear," Loganel let out a sigh of relief. He then frowned as he gazed at the ground with a depressed state of mind.

So...this is the powers of a Demon, he thought to himself as he recalled the large flux of Mana and energy he had felt during the battle. I...I'm really not human anymore...

"Let's look around a bit," Kaz suggested. "We gotta find whatever it was that woke the bear."

The party then scouted around for bit and followed the bear's tracks to its den, which is a shallow cave in a rocky cliff. The interior of the cave reeked of the dirty smell of the bear as feces could be found nearby as well as decomposing carcasses of animals. Within the pile of carcasses, Loganel saw a familiar shape. It was a human hand.

"Looks like that thing ate people as well," he said, pointing out the bones of a human hand in the pile.

"How terrible," Marilin sighed and whispered a prayer to herself.

"Guys!" Kaz shouted to get the attention of his party mates. "Look what I found. Footprints belonging to multiple people." Kaz then pointed showed something in his hands. "I also found these nearby. A bunch of used firecrackers."

"Looks like someone intentionally woke the beast," Tetsuya concluded.

"Should we follow the footprints?" Sheriel asked.

"Yeah," Loganel nodded. "Kaz, lead the way."

"Got it."

The party then followed after Kaz as Kaz led them down the trail. The footprints led them further away from the village and deeper into the forest. Looking up, Loganel discovered faint traces of smoke rising in the not too far distance.

"Smoke," he whispered as he looked up into the sky.

"They must've done something to conceal it," Kaz observed. "Because it would never be that light of a color."

The group then continued on following the trail. The sun had begun to sunk, allowing the blue sky to change into an orange color that is also slowly losing its color to a dark purple, and it led to a lowering of temperatures. Loganel shivered and rubbed his arms as he breathed out some white mist. He looked around and realized that the others were cold as well. However, everyone seemed to be determined to continue on and find the culprit.

"Wait," Kaz said in a hushed whisper as he held out a hand to stop his party mates from proceeding further. "We're close."

"What do we do?" Sheriel asked.

"Follow me," Kaz whispered.

He then took the party off the trail and up a small hill that was to the side of the trail. Loganel followed after the party until they arrived at an elevated location, a small cliff that directly overlooked the culprit's campsite. Loganel saw a group of ten men, all armed with swords and axes. Their clothing doesn't appear to be those of travelers, but rather bandits.

"Lucas," a black-bearded man laughed as he patted a skinnier man on his back. "You're so smart. How did I not think of the idea of waking a bear and have it ravage the village before attacking?"

Author's Note: 

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