thud

thud

thud

Slow and methodical, the troop of female warriors and Wizards plodded forward, covering ground at a constant pace. Dorian was perfectly comfortable being carried, the magic that covered his body making what should've been a jarring journey quite comfy.

He had recovered enough to be able to turn his focus to his surroundings. He noticed, as he scanned the fighters, that the boots of each woman gave off a very faint, grayish light. They appeared to erase any traces the women left in the environment, covering their trail.

His eyes constantly scanned the area as they moved. He forced his body to remain limp despite his rising tension.

This group was being hunted just like him. They had found some rare treasure, and were taking it back to heal an important figure.

There wasn't a doubt in his mind that they would be attacked on the way back.

The women seemed to be aware of that as well. The warriors of the troop were constantly moving forward and shifting to the sides, maintaining a formation that was on high alert. The Wizards seemed to have set up some magical alert Spell that scanned the environment around them.

Dorian got his first good glance at the girl that had rescued him about twenty minutes into their journey.

She was, as she sounded, young. Around 17 or 18 years old, with short blonde hair and a face covered in freckles, alongside a pair of deep blue eyes. The air around her carried a strong, earthy Aura. She appeared to practice some variety of Earth or Rock Magic, Dorian assumed.

"Be alert!" Her voice was young, but not inexperienced. It held a commanding edge.

They had been moving for about thirty-five minutes, crossing over a large, precariously perched stone bridge, when Dorian heard a loud noise.

A rumbling echo shook the cave as a large chunk of ice collapsed. Dorian spotted movement out of the corner of his eye, in-between bits of rock and frozen water being thrown into the air.

'Here we go!' His eyes flashed as his heart started to pound, readying himself to activate his Emerald Flames.

"Look ready!"

"To the left!"

The shouts of the female warriors cut quietly into the air as they all turned, preparing for an attack.

A warm, white light covered the entire group in a protective sheen, while a huge spike of rock floated into existence above the young Wizard leader of the group.

"…"

"False alarm."

"Just a random collapse."

"Back to walking, ladies."

The group returned to walking nonchalantly, ignoring the collapsed ice and stone.

Dorian's mouth fell open in shock. He quickly closed it as the warrior carrying him began to tread forward, not wanting to have his jaw smash down.

He wanted to sputter as his heart calmed down, feeling annoyed. It had just been a false alarm. Perhaps he was too tense. The real attack would undoubtedly come later.

Roughly an hour later, they were moving down a long, winding cave passage, lit by dimly glowing moss, when an odd, shrieking echo had pushed down upon them.

The ungodly keen had made Dorian shiver, his eyes opening wide as his heart pounded once more. It sounded like a dangerous, powerful Banshee, as if some type of deadly magical Spell or Ability had been activated.

'This is it! Hyperion Beam, be ready to start charging!'

"Look ready, girls!" The warriors fanned out, several of them leaping to the walls as they prepared for a charge. The Wizards stepped backwards towards the rear of the group, alongside the girl leader as they prepared themselves.

"…"

"False alarm again, just an odd gust of wind."

"Back to walking, ladies."

Two hours later, a boulder collapsed and fell from the roof far overhead, almost smashing down on one of the girls near Dorian.

"Enemy attack!"

"Nevermind, just some grumpy earth."

"Back to walking."

A short time after that, a set of stalactites has slammed through the air, piercing the ground just a few meters away from the leading scout.

"An attack?!"

"Look to the front!"

"Or the back!"

"…"

"Nope, just some broken rock."

"Keep moving."

Just a little bit later, a huge boulder inexplicably crossed their path, rolling down from one cave passage they were about to cross all the way into another.

"Watch out!"

"Is it a diversion?!"

"…"

"Nope, just some random rolling boulders."

"I hear those are common in the lands of the Graal Alliance."

By the time they reached the exit of the underground Western Cave System, Dorian's eyes were bloodshot.

A pebble shifted a slight bit as the women trod up a long, sloping path upward.

'DON'T YOU FREAKIN' MOVE A CENTIMETER!' He glared pure fury and death at the small piece of rock as his eyes caught the movement, cursing its ancestors to die as shards of crunched up sand under a toddler's foot.

'Twenty-three times! Twenty-three FREAKING times!' Dorian wanted to leap off the back of the woman carrying him and dance a fiesta in rage. He wanted to walk up to the side of the cave and just punch it in the cave-jugular.

There were a total of twenty-three times that, while moving with the female troop, some odd, unexplained occurrence took place. Stalactites dropped, bridges collapsed, boulders soared through the air.

A number of them clear non-natural occurrences.

Any number of which could be a full-fledged enemy attack.

Yet not a single one of the women warriors or Wizards seem to see anything amiss.

'Are you FREAKING kidding ME! Just FREAKING attack oh my FREAKING gosh!' Dorian mentally railed at the injustice of this all.

'Please. Just attack us.'

He sent up a mental prayer, his eyes begging for whatever mysterious group of enemies that was stalking them to just come out in the open and try to murder them.

'I don't know how much longer I can bear this…' He closed his eyes in mental agony.

"…"

"Well, look at that ladies!"

"We made it out completely unscathed! What luck!"

The young Wizard leader of the troop smiled as she looked at her fighters, her voice exuding confidence and good cheer.

"Wooo!"

"Long live the Golden Moon!"

A cascade of happy cheers whipped about as the women, and Dorian, exited the Western Cave System and stepped foot onto the World Bridge.

The World Bridge to Paxital from Blizzaria was like the one Dorian had entered on. It was set underground, connecting directly inside the cave system itself.

The brutal wind of Blizzaria's surface immediately assaulted Dorian as they left the cave system.

The White Wizard among the group had cast the same Spell she had earlier, protecting Dorian from the harsh cold. It couldn't, however, block out the raging winds.

Chaotic bursts of air crashed down upon the group as the scaled the barren World Bridge out of the Western Cave System. The gravity and power of the World Bridge was at its weakest here, and it did little to combat the magic weather.

'…'

'This is the perfect time for an ambush…' Dorian thought, looking hopefully to the left and right in a secretive manner.

If there was any time to attack a vulnerable group, attacking during the middle of an extremely loud storm of snow and wind would definitely rank near the top.

'Steady, Dorian.' His bloodshot eyes darted all over. He watched the Wizards and warriors as they charged up the World Bridge, not a single movement escaping his eyes. Even in his human form, the Demonic Eyes passive Ability he'd gained long ago meant his vision was superb.

He kept on full alert.

WHOOSH

From out of nowhere, a blade of ice shot into the middle of the group, almost stabbing the young Wizard leading the women.

"Woah!"

"Careful!"

The group instantly clustered forward, standing in a small circle while guarding their leader.

'Finally.' Dorian muttered in his head, his eyes glistening. The unbearable torture of the past several hours had run him ragged. His left arm was making visible progress, tucked away and hidden in the white gauze he was wrapped in, but he still wasn't in a condition where he felt safe moving on his own yet.

It seemed their unseen enemies were finally making a real move.

"It's a sword… made out of pure ice?" The young voice of the leader sounded out over the loud wind as she picked up the projectile.

It was as she described. A sharp, 3 meter blade that appeared to have been formed out of ice. It was roughly shaped, but still clearly unnatural.

The group tensed up, scanning their surroundings. They continued to creep slowly up the World Bridge, not coming to a full stop. They were still on the bottom half of the barren landscape. If they could get higher up, the strange gravity and magic of the World Bridge should make the weather more bearable.

"Hmm…" The girl shrugged,

"Must've been formed by luck. Let's keep on moving, ladies."

Dorian's body twisted as the warriors broke formation and continued to run up the World Bridge.

Slowly, ever so slowly, he turned his head towards the girl moving at the center of their formation. The leader.

His bloodshot eyes trembled slightly,

'I don't like you.'

He glared at her for a good twenty seconds before going back to pretending to be unconscious.

'Whatever. I'm done standing guard. This is ridiculous. Your whole group is ridiculous. This world is ridiculous.' Dorian glared death at the snow-strewn ground beneath him as they thudded forward.

Nothing in his memories, from earth or from the strange man named Yukeli, could explain any of this.

'Are they under some type of spell? Is my soul responsible?' Dorian felt helpless.

How could they not see all the strangeness that was happening? A blade of ice landed in the center of their group and they thought it was just a random natural occurrence?

Even further… whoever was causing all of these events seemed to be playing along… No actual attacks took place.

'William, are you seeing this?' He muttered in his head, helplessly.

They should've been ambushed a dozen times. This entire situation was ridiculous.

'Whatever. I give up.' Dorian closed his eyes and began to meditate, focusing on his soul. He wouldn't waste any more time on whatever was happening right now.

He focused on healing his body as much as he could. He subtly popped the last Light Pill he had in his Spatial Ring into his mouth, willing his body to recover.

Just like that, time began to slip by. Dorian completely ignored the outside world, and before he knew it, the group managed to safely move all the way onto the World Bridge, and cross a large portion of it.

All without being ambushed a single time.

The World Bridge to Paxital from Blizzaria was a rather short one. Crossing it would only take a few hours at most. Its landscape was barren and mostly empty, only a few dangerous crevices dotting it, unlike the lush plains or forests found on other World Bridges.

"Alright, ladies! Here we are! The final stretch!" The young female leader's voice roused Dorian from his meditation. He blinked blearily as he snuck a look around.

They were on the World Bridge, one that was covered in barren rock. The brutal cold from Blizzaria had long since faded.

"All we need to do now is reach Excelsior at the base of the Bridge and we've made it!"

"We're only minutes away!"

"Thank goodness we didn't get attacked! What luck!"

Dorian glared at the girl out of the corner of his eye.

'Go away. I refuse to care. You saved me, but this… this…' He sent her another quiet glare before quickly ducking his head, not wanting to be spotted awake.

"Charge forward! Full speed ahead!"

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Meanwhile, several planets away…

BOOM

A shuddering explosion rang out, shards of rock blasting into the air.

"Aargh!" A blood-covered Vampire yelled out in pain as he was sent flying, his entire right shoulder crushed. Bright red blood spurted out of it, a gruesome injury. He landed on the ground at the center of a clearing in a large forest, lit by the wavering moonlight above.

"Just tell us what we need to know. This doesn't need to get ugly." A kind, caring voice echoed out as a slim male human stepped forward. He was wearing a green suit, with a set of fine lace pants. A small hat covered his short brown hair, but not hiding his piercing red eyes. An oddity.

The biggest oddity in the man's appearance, however, was the right side of his body.

The entire right side of his physique appeared to be made out of clear, crystalline diamond, including his physical body as well as the clothes he was wearing.

"Yes, Vampire." Another human appeared, a gaunt-looking woman covered in multiple layers of twisting water. She seemed to be wrapped in a large, floating bubble of water, shaped like a snake. Underneath the water, a long, blue robe was visible, wrapped around her figure. Her face was tight and lined, stern looking.

"Where was the last place you saw those two Anomalies moving?"

As she finished speaking, two incredibly powerful Pseudo-King Class Auras burst forth from her and the well-dressed man, Auras that gave off faint distortions in the air itself. Auras only the most elite of Wizards could give off, those skilled to an enormous degree, capable of fighting foes beyond their level.

"The Borrel Autarchy demands it."

.

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