Chapter 129: 129: Fennelis Moonriver

It glinted silver and was very high up in the mist, the thing that Fennelis was watching. The wood elf wondered what it might be. 

Perhaps a monster? But it was too far away to tell. He strained to make out what the airborne figure could be, but it soon vanished from view behind a cloud of mist and soon Fennelis came down from his spot in the trees.

There were nine figures drenched in rain around the soldering fire. None spoke as he came down, each sticking to their respective groups to whisper amongst themselves. 

Fennelis joined the group and began to stoke their weakening campfire in silence. The mood around their campfire had darkened since they were attacked in the middle of the night by a mysterious creature.

The men on his right were whispering in quiet voices. They seemed like soldiers, but he wasn't sure he could call them that. They were dressed in a mix of different armours.

Their tanned leather had designs from the desert country of Insar, but the rough make up of their steel armour was clearly barbarian in origin, even their curved ornate daggers looked like those of elves – he wasn't sure if they were truly soldiers or mercenaries. 

However, the ones that seemed like real soldiers were more concerned with finding treasure and wealth. The Pelagian captain, Rokian, and his four infantry soldiers were discussing the price of rare monster cores and Fennelis picked up pieces of their conversation with his keen senses. 

According to them there were many cores scattered across the labyrinth, dropped by the monsters as they died, and their shrewd captain was determined to break off from the group to go find them.

Their claims were completely false, of course, but Fennelis pretended not to hear any of this. He wasn't surprised the Pelagian soldiers were considering this. Entry to the Ailith Labyrinth was strictly controlled by the high elves and it would be extremely difficult for them to get another opportunity to enter.

Which was why, instead of returning to a victory parade in their country after their successful battle against the mutant horde, these unlikely soldiers had broken away from their legion to sign up for this exploratory mission.

The shrill sound of steel scraped against stone interrupted his thoughts. Fennelis looked towards the base of the tree where a hairy man covered in fur, was sharpening a battle axe that was nearly as tall as himself and three times as wide. It was a fearsome weapon that could cleave even a dragon in two.

Fennelis wondered how that man could lift such a weapon so easily.

Of their entire group, the worst so far had to be this wandering barbarian that had tagged along. A huge man, but of a few words, Fennelis thought his blood had to be a mix of something, for he was nearly as tall as a giant. Much taller than their tallest half elf who could already look down at everyone. 

His bulk, along and the weight of the weapon he carried only showed off his strength. The only thing the man had done so far was to hunt monsters, and he had been hit the hardest by the night's thievery, since every one of his monster corpses had been stolen clean.

The barbarian's icy blue eyes soldered with rage and Fennelis looked away. The soldiers around the campfire had seized their chatter, each trying hard not to look over in his direction. Fennelis decided his time was better spent scouting.

At the start of their expedition, the group was in harmony, even with their dubious assembly of members, but after many long days of long fruitless search, repeated encounters with monsters, and now with their food shortage, the mood had quickly gone sour. 

The unrelenting rain and the rushing rapids they created had also done plenty to strain the elf-human relationships amongst the party.

There were only so many ant monsters that came through the barrier before they realised it was suspicious. It was soon revealed that one of the half elves had taken the corpse of an ant monster into his storage ring, leading to so many encounters with the creatures and their relentless pursuit. 

The tempers of the group had changed ever since. They had discarded the monster's body and fled uphill to get away from them. And now this happened.

Ulrick, their group's only ranger, had a detection stone to warn him of approaching monsters. The stone had been with him through many solitary journeys through the borderlands and was quite expensive. It was his lucky charm, and he was reluctant to part with it or even share it with the group while he slept. So, it wasn't a surprise none of them had been aware of the monster's presence, or what it had taken until it was too late.

Luthera, the only High elf among them, and the leader of the group had said it was an aberrant monster that had made away with their supplies, but Fennelis himself hadn't seen any, and he was awake. Also what sort of monster would only take supplies when there were people in front of it?

His suspicions lay with the elf ranger, Ulrick. He was the only one in the group who had an argument with the barbarian who was better skilled at tracking and hunting monsters than he was. Why else would all of his kills have been taken?

They were probably all in his storage ring right now, and he prevented anyone from checking its contents while he kept up the lie. However, Luthera came to his defence insisting it was indeed a monster, the jewel she wore around her neck had gone off while she slept, and it only did so in the presence of demonic energy. 

Ulrick had supposedly slept through the alarm of his detection stone, while Luthera only seemed to know about the monster after it had gone. Fennelis suspected there had been no monster, that it was just an excuse made up by the two half elves to cover up their mischief and they had succeeded in fooling Luthera into going along with them.

Since it happened, they had decided to move camps, just in case the monster returned for them this time.

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They were still no closer to finding the mysterious temple that was supposed to reside within the Labyrinth. And Luthera along with the two half elves spent all of their time in their tents, pouring over maps and ancient scripts. 

Finding the temple was a mission from her master, Grandmaster Lothrein, but Fennelis thought the difficulty of her mission was too high. If there was such a temple here, why had no elf aside from the Grandmaster discovered it before? And why would he send a single disciple to look for it, instead of a more capable hand?

It felt like an impossible task. Perhaps it was a test from her master that she wasn't supposed to pass?

But Luthera was just as determined to not give up. She had been keeping an eye on the Labyrinth's exit and tracking it via pendulum on her map. It had already moved since they'd been camped here so she suggested moving camp, right before the rain started and their progress had been halted. The rain was another obstruction she did not predict, which had made their progress difficult.

The labyrinth itself changed all the time, with an exit that could appear anywhere on the upper stratum, they had to keep moving if they wanted to keep up with it and not get stuck there forever. 

And so, while the high elf continued her search, he would scout ahead to spot any dangers.

The tent flung open and the elf swordsman, Aetoris emerged. He was tall with a muscular build, pale blonde hair, and bright green eyes with an extremely haughty look on his face. Ignoring the tense mood around the fire, he called out to Fennelis.

"Moonboy, why are you out there with them? Luthera needs you inside."

Fennelis did not like his tone.

"Did you not hear me?" Aetoris called out again. Ever since Fennelis discovered he was the one with the ant monster's corpse, he took an issue with him and was often rude to him for no reason.

Instead of following him into the tent, Fennelis left the campfire and ran ahead of the group, scaling the nearest tree to get a better look from above. As they prepared to move camp, Fennelis grew even more concerned they were still being followed – it wasn't so easy to throw hunting ants off a fixed scent.

He focused on the ground below, but then he noticed the gleam in the sky had gotten closer to them since then. He couldn't remember ever seeing anything quite like it. He could make out individual flying figures in the air and the silvery glimmer seemed to be their wings. 

It implied things, things that disturbed him almost as much as the growing conflict within their camp. The creatures seemed to be Hesperias and it wasn't the typical hunting squadron of eight, he had never seen them move in such numbers before.

"What are you staring at so intently, Moonboy?" The arrogant elf questioned. 

Fennelis glanced at the elf for a brief second before directing his attention back up to the mist, listening to the whisper of the creatures that transpired within. He heard the drone of the Hesperias, followed by the shuffle of leaves as the fast moving creatures swept through them, counting each one.

"Ignoring me now?" Aetoris was enraged, but Fennelis nimbly leapt down from the tree as he exclaimed.

"Hesperias incoming. It looks like a swarm. I counted twenty but it's likely there are more." He warned, quickly grabbing his bow and arrow. The Pelagian soldiers all rose to their feet, fastening their amour before extending their weapons.

Luthera was frantic as she came out of her tent, a map in hand. "What did you say?"

"Hesperias!" Fennelis repeated.

Lutheria looked even more frantic. "They shouldn't be in this area; their territory is much further south. I made sure to avoid that place!"

"Your calculations are wrong." Aetoris snapped. "Wait in the tent and gather your things. We'll wait out the swarm to see if it moves on. Where is Ulrick?"

Ukrick came out of his tent, smelling strongly of alcohol, just as the Hesperia swarm passed though their illusion barrier without stopping. They quickly spotted the group as the members took up arms. 

Aetoris took out his appraisal stone, aiming at the first wasp that reared its ugly head, to determine its level. His already pale face turned a shade whiter, but he stood firm, his combat training kicking into place. 

"Weapons at the ready! The monsters are upon us!"

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