Book 6, Chapter 86 (1/2)

Crisis

Mountainsea and Phaser were the only ones left in the freshly-made camp. The latter’s entire body was wrapped in a dark green cloak, even her face hidden in the shadows as though she was just a part of the environment. This cloak was a piece of epic-grade equipment that was extraordinary for stealth. In comparison, Mountainsea’s equipment didn’t look like it would add up to even ten gold.

The barbarian girl’s attire was enchanted, but it was only for resistance to dirt and wear. When Richard had first seen her, just the worth of the jewels she wore was more than even most legendary beings, able to leave even Sharon breathless, but now she looked almost no different from a poor adventurer. She hadn’t asked for anything ever since she arrived in Norland, seemingly happy so long as she could stay by Richard’s side. He had given her hundreds of thousands of gold, but all she had picked up with it was a rod of lafite that was enchanted for sturdiness. Even including the materials, she had only given the mage who enchanted it ten gold. In a strangely competitive way, she had named the staff Eleventon.

Mountainsea’s eyes were glowing as she stared at Phaser, the campfires flickering despite a lack of wind. The special unit had shrunk backwards, but only to coil up for a vicious strike. She was glaring at the barbarian girl herself, prepared to pounce.

“You have the guts?” Mountainsea asked with an eyebrow raised, her hand on Eleventon.

“Of course not,” Phaser said softly, but she only coiled up further as her hand reached for Annihilation by her waist. This was clearly eagerness and not fear.

“Heh,” Mountainsea stood up, her staff pointed to the ground. The movement seemed casual, but her aura instantly billowed out as though an ancient beast was hidden in her little body. Phaser, who was significantly taller than her, suddenly felt as though she had to look up. This caused a storm in the special unit’s heart; she knew that the barbarian was only level 10 and didn’t even have her totems.

This didn’t mean that Phaser didn’t dare to fight. Having reached the saint realm recently, she had been rebuilt a total of thrice by the broodmother. Every transformation was a huge investment of divinity, and for certain reasons to help Flowsand the broodmother had spared almost nothing in upgrading her when Richard had gone off to Klandor. She bowed and drew back, Annihilation being pulled from its sheath, “What do you want? When did I offend you?”

Mountainsea just shrugged, “Never, I just want to know what you are. Why would I like someone who wants to eat me? I know you won’t do it as long as Richard is alive, but you’re still thinking about it.”

“Is that the only reason?” Phaser asked.

“No, you also smell strange, like the fabled Worldeater.”

“Worldeater?” Phaser felt her heart skip a beat. This was the first time she was hearing this term, but it sounded very familiar.

“The Beast God said that it’s the enemy of all life.”

The special unit fell silent for a while before responding, “It isn’t me.”

“Huh… Of course not, but you must be related— what?” Mountainsea opened her eyes wide as she looked towards the direction that Richard had left, hair fluttering in the wind as her aura surged. A phantom behemoth formed in the void, forcing Phaser to retreat by instinct as it roared in challenge. All the trees within a few miles started shaking.

The giant beast dispersed within a minute of its appearance, leaving the barbarian girl pale and sweaty. She looked at the direction the beast had roared in, her eyebrows almost knitting together as she turned to Phaser, “You know what it is, don’t you.”