"What!? Aren't you satisfied with the last duel?" snorted Lars when Rhen asked for a rematch. After they have escorted the druid, Rhen and Lars met up with Dameon and Elini and now they were on a voyage on the vast ocean. Te'ijal and Galahad were nowhere to be found and Rhen believed that they will meet them again. She sighed in relief as there could proceed their quest without a superstitious paladin and a creature of the night.
"Why? Are you a coward?" Rhen flapped her arms and acted like a chicken.
"Pfft! I'm not afraid of you!" he spatted and readied his cracked orb staff. "Bring it on!"
Dameon called for ready and they were in stance.
"Fight!"
Without hesitation, Lars started his move and cursed her with the Chicken Hex Spell. Unfortunately, Rhen had it coming. The Sword of Silence somehow helped her to immune against certain abnormalities.
"It won't work this time," Rhen cooed, Lars grunted. "My turn."
She charged towards and disappeared before Lars before he could perform a counter spell. Out of his knowing, she appeared behind and low-kicked him.
Lars, who got baffled from the previous attack, got to his feet and attempted to drive her away with his Wind Whip Spell, but she was too agile that he couldn't aim her properly.
"Trinity Fury!" Grand holy crosses emerged from the tip of her sword and raging towards Lars. But he managed to perform a counter spell.
"Gate Exura!" a dark vortex appeared in front of him just in time the holy crosses came. Like a black hole, it sucked the crosses and disappeared afterwards.
"Firefly Ballad!" Rhen charged towards him with the sword blazing in aqua flame. With the help of the cracked orb, Lars managed to absorbed some of her damage by shielding him with his staff. After she delivered the final blow, Lars countered with his Thundershock Spell. He expected her to get paralysed, but she didn't.
"Ha! You're done!" Rhen leaped and jump attacked, but Lars blocked her with his staff. As their weapons met, Rhen twisted her sword and parried his staff away. She pointed the tip of her sword onto his chin and stuck out her tongue.
"Well done, northerner," praised Elini. "You have escalated quickly."
"Nice," Dameon patted Rhen's shoulders, which made her blushed. Lars scowled at Rhen when Dameon was tending his wound. She chuckled and stood beside Elini, who was looking (and day-dreaming, Rhen guessed) at the vast ocean.
"Is something wrong?" asked Rhen.
"No, it's just... It's so familiar," she summoned a wyvern and it scouted around the surroundings. As the creature perched on Elini's arm, her eyes widened followed with a smile. Rhen gave her a puzzled look.
"No wonder," Elini murmured to herself. She noticed Rhen's expression and said, "We're about to land on the Southern Isle, where my home is located."
"Oh!" exclaimed Rhen. "I can't wait to see your homeland."
"You'll see," Elini chuckled.
~~~
The very first thing would Lars do when they reached Veldt was to find a place to sleep. Rhen had an idea of punching his head but didn't when Elini offered them to sleep at her house.
Her house, just like the other houses in Veldt, was cylindrically tall, purple roof with beige wall. According to Elini, the nobles lived in a purple roof houses while the peasants lived under the yellow roof.
As they stepped into the house, a man was watching the other two playing chess. Three of them looked up and smiled broadly when they saw Elini.
"Husband, it's good to see you again," Elini smiled.
"Welcome wife."
"Wife, where have you been?"
"Wife, have you found us a brother?"
While Elini was having conversations with her husbands, Lars followed Rhen and Dameon upstairs and unpacked their things in the cozy guest room. By the time they were finished, Elini entered the room and decided to have a tour with her guests.
~~~
"G'day, strangers. Welcome to the Veldt Museum of Natural History," said the curator, whose name was Rasha. "It has the largest number of Amazonian artifacts in the world."
"Amazonian?" asked Rhen, who looked interested with it.
"Once long ago, this land was a jungle ruled by a group of women known as Amazons," Rasha smiled with courtesy. "If you happen to come across any artifacts during your stay, please bring them by.
"There's said to be an artifact of great importance buried under the mountains."
"What's this artifact?"
"The Belt of Hippolyte."
"The Belt of Hippo...?" Lars faked a cough.
"The Belt of Hippolyte. It was passed down from Amazon queen to Amazon queen," said Elini. "There's rumors that the belt was kept inside Demon Caves, which situated south of here."
"Speaking of Demon Caves..." added the curator. "A strange earthquake occurred hours ago, but no one was hurt from the disaster."
"Uh oh..." said Lars. Everyone stared at him.
"I beg your pardon?" asked the curator.
"I have to go to toilet, and I'll be right back!" and straight away he ran out.
"Northerners," Elini shook her head.
~~~
The toilet situation was just an excuse for Lars as he was bored of the tour. He wanted to explore by himself. He walked into a bazaar, when the stalls selling their exotic things such as charms, voodoo dolls, fans, scrolls, food and so on. What got his attention was an arcane shop not far from him. He decided to have a look and entered the shop without second thought.
The shop was so messy due to the recent earthquake happening just now. Scrolls and spell books fell onto the floor, potions shattered onto the ground. Lars had to walk carefully to not to step on the strange liquid which he did not recognise. As he reached the counter, an advertisement got his attention. It was an advertisement of getting promoted as an elite mage. He decided to ask the shopkeeper.
"Drats! I need to replace this old kettle of mine," mumbled the alchemist, who happened to be the owner of the shop. "If only I could get my hands on one of the magic kettles that the fairies made..."
The alchemist was unaware of Lars' presence until he cleared his throat. "Oh, I forgot myself. What can I get for you?"
"I would like to enroll as an elite mage."
"I don't think you can, sorcerer," said the alchemist sarcastically by judging Lars' physical condition. "This is no game for you. Stay away from it unless you want to seek death."
"But I'm prepared to face it no matter what the test is."
The alchemist thought for a while, "If you say so..." He took out a pouch from his robe, grabbed a handful of the things inside, and threw the magic dust onto Lars. Before Lars could protest, he was teleported elsewhere.
When he woke up, he looked around and assumed that he was in an arena no bigger than a football field. Just then, a voice boomed throughout the arena.
"Welcome, sorcerer. In order to become a full-ledged elite mage, you must complete a task. Have a battle with your opponent and survive."
Just as the voice faded, a figure coming out from a platform not far away. He gasped as he realised that he had to fight his master.
"Prepare to die a miserable death!" said Ghelda. She waved her staff and started her move. "Void Blaste!"
Lars was too terrified to make a move. His mind ordered him to dodge away but his feet seems being rooted on the spot. A black sphere surrounded him but he managed to teleport away in the nick of time before the sphere exploded.
She's not your master, thought Lars, this is just a test.
The fake Ghelda didn't hesitate and chanted, "Bouwaz Blaste!"
Boulders emerged from the earth. With the will of her staff, she controlled the boulders flew towards her foe. Lars got to his feet and successfully reflected it with his Wind Whip Spell and countered her with Mudslide Spell. But the opponent seemed have read his mind and teleported away before the ground where she once stood turned to quicksand.
She teleported from here to there, advancing towards Lars. Lars bit his lips, boggling his mind to counter her. He concentrated hard, attempting to get the bearing. With a wave of his staff, he attacked.
"Motion Friz!"
It worked. Her movement slowed down and Lars didn't hesitate to finish her. "Aizikel!"
Shards of ice pierced her body and she vanished into thin air. Just when Lars was about to lay on the ground and have a break, the ground shook.
The arena gate opened and his next opponent walked out. The sword the figure was carrying glowed at his or her waist, and it made Lars felt so familiar. It was seconds before Lars bulged his eyes, mouth dropped wide open when he saw who his next opponent was.
Without waiting, the fake Rhen charged towards him with her sword readied. Lars teleported aside just in time as Rhen jumped and slammed the ground. He casted for a thunderstorm. Lightnings stroke down but the fake Rhen dispelled it with a swing of her sword.
"Touch of Darkness!" her sword disappeared and instead she was spinning like a tornado while throwing knives at him like a ninja. Lars tried his best to deflect the incoming knives with his Shield Spell. Due to his previous battle, Lars was exhausted. When he got distracted, his barrier cracked and soon his defence was breached. He fell onto the ground and pulled out the knife that stabbed his leg immediately. His opponent stopped spinning and have a short break.
He flinched as he tried to move his leg, "Deadly poison!" He grabbed some marsh tea from his shredded cloak and stuffed into his mouth. Soon, the poison was neutralised and he could feel his leg again.
His for charged again and this time she was carrying a spear. Without hesitation, Lars summoned for a tornado and it turned out to be a sandstorm as the sand danced along with the twirling gust. Fake Rhen shielded her eyes and without knowing, she sank downwards into a quicksand.
"Ha! Got you!" Lars smirked. "Now, for the final touch..."
His opponent struggled for life as he chanted while unleashing his remaining power, "Moterano Zechas Hexo!" Soon, the battle ended with a sound of wailing followed by a non-stop clucking.
"Oh, shut up!" said Lars. "Silence Extora!"
He clapped his hands, feeling proud and satisfied with himself. Due to the fierce battle he had, he lost most of his mana. Suddenly, he fainted and the whole world went black.