Chapter 8: Chapter 8: Drenid Battles

This time Wolstan wasted no time Scanning the Drenids.

Drenid Name: Desa

Hunter: ???

Tribe: Sebrie

Form: [Lightning Walker] (1st stage)

Class: Mythical

Level: 12

Strength: 16

Defense: 12

Intel: 16

Agility: 14

 

Drenid Name: Aki

Hunter: ???

Tribe: Spirit

Form: [Fox] (2nd stage)

Class: Beast

Level: 26

Strength: 42

Defense: 20

Intel: 29

Agility: 25

Wolstan’s throat tightened, he almost wished he hadn’t looked. Not only was one of the Drenids in her second form they were both of the Beast and Mystical class, said to be the strongest. Not to mention the question marks they had in place of a hunter name. 

“Wh-what did you do with the librarian?” Wolstan asked, trying to stall for time. He needed to summon Rania. Though she'd be no match for either he figured he’d be able to convince Esta to help them.

Aki smiled a ghastly wolfish grin. “She’ll be dealt with after you surrender. You’re trespassing on private property and stealing. Hand over the seeds.”

“Don’t you realize what these are!” Esta yelled. “These could change everything for us! For every Drenid in Pluveria, yet you’d rather deliver them to your hunter?”

Desa frowned. “Don’t you think we know that? Our hunter’s orders were to find out what happened to the seeds and take in anyone involved in their disappearance. If you can find a loophole in that, I invite you to try.”

Esta’s face drooped. She knew as well as anyone the two had no choice but to follow their hunter’s orders so there was no point in arguing.

“And who exactly gave you those orders?” Wolstan asked and slowly positioned his finger over his Dredot.

“Human, there are only a few people in the kingdom who can manipulate Dredot data like that,” Aki said. “If you don’t have an idea of who our owners are there's no point in telling you. Now, enough talk, the seeds or your lives.”

“Esta!” Wolstan yelled and tapped his Dredot twice.

Rania appeared in front of him in a flash of green light and Esta threw the bag of seeds Wolstan’s way. He caught them and stored them in the device though it wouldn’t do any good if they just killed him for them.

The second Rania appeared she whipped around and growled at Wolstan. “How dare you store me like some common-” 

“Rania, face forward and help Esta!” Wolstan cried. 

Rania’s eyes widened as she was forced to face Aki and Desa. He didn’t want to order her like that but things were quickly getting out of hand.

Rania sighed, “I see, you can’t stay out of trouble can you?” She materialized her sword and readied herself to take Desa. “They’re both stronger than me but I think I can take one if the monster takes the dog.”

Esta merely sharpened her fingers into claws in place of an answer.

Wolstan backed himself against the back wall and tried to make himself as small as possible. The air in the cellar grew tense, the battle would start at any moment and he needed to make sure he supported Rania any way he could. He just didn’t know what that would be yet.

Desa raised her hand, a long silver axe with lightning streaks carved into its metal materialized in a flash of yellow light. Aki splayed her fingers and her nails sharpened into long claws while her four canine teeth elongated into long points.

“Last chance…” The foxish Drenid warned. 

Esta yelled and jumped at her. The two tumbled in a great ball of claws and teeth as they went for each other’s throats. Esta’s tail whipped wildly through the air and even stabbed at Aki as they impaled each other with their teeth. 

Wolstan wasn’t worried about her, Esta’s level was higher than Aki’s to such a degree he doubted she’d get so much as a scratch. He turned his attention to Rania who held her wooden blade in front of her, ready for Desa’s attack. 

It came seemingly at random, Desa ran at Rania and swung her axe at her side. Rania guarded the blow but was pushed back from the impact. 

Rania clenched her teeth and struck back but not quick enough. Desa parried every blow Rania sent her way. The Drenid’s axe was an extension of her arm, it moved to block everything Rania gave her almost like it knew where to go before Rania struck.

Wolstan quickly realized they wouldn’t be able to rely on Rania’s speed to save the day. Desa wasn’t only double her level but a mythical type whose stats were said to grow faster. It also didn’t help that the tunnel was cramped and Esta used what little space they had to fend off the fox. 

Wolstan looked around for a solution but only found the books that at best could serve as a small distraction. 

“Ah! You bitch!” Aki screamed. Wolstan looked over along with Desa with clear concern etched into her face. Aki held her other hand with some of her fingers clearly broken. It appeared she tried to punch Esta who had a long grisly skull covering her face. 

Wolstan’s skin crawled just looking at it but he assumed it had some kind of defensive property. Snapping back to Rania he saw her run up to  Desa with her sword held high while Desa still stared after her partner. 

Rania brought the blade down over Desa’s head. The [Lightning Walker] screamed and jumped back. A small trickle of blood ran down between her eyes. 

“Might want to try paying attention to your opponent.” Rania huffed and readied herself again.

“I’ll try to remember that...” Desa said. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t look like Rania did enough damage to turn the tides. Desa wasn’t even breathing harder after taking the hit. Wolstan wondered if she had some kind of skill that helped her from the brunt of the attack.

That’s when it hit him; Rania had new skills! He completely forgot after everything that happened with the conductor and Laurette. Backstab wouldn’t do any good in such a tight space but blade flurry would do the job. All he had to do was find the right time for her to use it and give the command. 

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Aki screamed again and this time Rania wasted no time cutting the distance between her and Desa.

Wolstan saw the opening, Desa’s eyes flitted Aki’s way, he shouted, “Blade Flurry!” 

Rania’s eyes widened, her hands moved to rapidly strike at Desa’s face. The [Lightning Walker] was ready, she blocked every strike with the shaft of her ax.

The second Rania’s blows ceased Desa rammed her axe into Rania’s side. 

Rania screamed, brought her sword down between Desa’s eyes thrice, and jumped back spraying the ground with crimson droplets. She Dropped to one knee gripping her wound as blood spilled over her fingers.

“I’m sorry, but please just stop fighting. I don’t want to kill you if I don’t have to!” Desa said, gripping her face where Rania struck her. Her face had gone pale, either from pain or not wanting to fight Wolstan couldn’t tell and didn’t care.

His breath caught in his throat seeing blood run down Rania’s leg. It was his fault, if he hadn’t tried to help she might have had a plan. He looked from the blood spilling out from her fingers to her quickly whitening face, he had to do something for her. He moved his hands to his Dredot to desummon her.

“STOP!” Rania growled. She didn’t turn to face him but Wolstan knew she was talking to him.“Don’t you fucking dare, if you give up now I’ll never forgive you.”

“But-” 

“But nothing! I’m not going to lose, not to a Drenid that would dare to look away from me while we’re fighting.”

“What?” Wolstan asked. That’s what she was upset about? It dawned on him just how abnormal she was for a Forester. She wasn’t peaceful like the ones other hunters had in Zertold and her pride burned brighter than any human or Drenid he’d ever known. 

He chanced a glance at Desa, she still looked dazed but was recovering quickly. His finger hovered right above Rania’s dot, letting her continue didn’t seem like the right move.

“If we’re going to work together we need to trust each other,” Rania said with a small pleading note in her tone.

Wolstan huffed but his hand fell to his side. “Fine, but the second you beat her, you’re going back in and we’re getting you to a doctor.” 

“Deal.” 

Rania gingerly got back to her feet and held her weapon out before her, ignoring the free-flowing blood from her side. Desa let go of her face and blood flowed down her nose. It seemed either of them could fall depending on who struck first.

Desa leapt with her ax held high, sparks flew from its metal blade as she brought it down. 

Rania caught her sword against its handle grunting with exertion as Desa tried to bring the electrified weapon down to her face. She threw Desa off her panting heavily as more blood fell down her leg. 

Desa readied herself to strike again but just as she did Aki screamed louder than ever followed by an awful choking noise. Both she and Wolstan looked to see what caused it.

Wolstan wasn’t prepared for what he saw. Esta’s claws pierced through Aki’s chest as if the Drenid were made of paper. Aki rapidly gulped for air that would never come as Esta shoved her off her hand and threw her to the ground. The fox Drenid’s eyes rolled into her head before she lay still.

“AKI!” Desa screamed. 

“I thought I told you not to look away from me!” Rania growled. She rushed Desa and brought her sword back like a baseball bat before smashing it into the side of Desa’s head.

Desa went flying into the wall. She caught herself against it but stumbled a moment before falling herself.

The sound of a chime rang out and Rania’s Dredot glowed white. She won.

Rania turned back to Wolstan and smiled. “Told you, I could do it…” She said before collapsing in a heap. 

“Rania!” Wolstan yelled and ran to her side.

“Stop,” Esta said as she wiped blood from her claws. “Just put her back in the device, they help us recover.” 

Wolstan did as she said and watched as Rania shrank and dashed over back to his device. He looked at the little green dot wondering if she’d really be okay in there but then remembered what Esta did to the other Drenid. He looked over and saw strange yellow lights glowing above her.

“Did you really kill her?” He asked.

“Well… Yes and no.” Esta said, looking away shyly. “Death isn’t the same for a captured Drenid whose hunter is still alive. They’ll just reappear next to their hunter in a few days, memories intact and everything.”

She walked over to Desa. “It’s not safe to leave this one… If she hunts us down or gets to her hunter before we reach Gelia…” 

Wolstan clamped his eyes tight as Esta did the deed. When he opened them again she cleaned fresh blood from herself and the lights appeared over Desa.

He didn’t know how she did it so easily. Rania liked fighting but she never finished her enemies off, almost as if she wanted them to know she was the one who defeated them. 

He knew Esta was Evrouin’s Drenid before his death but now his mind raced to think of what the late king had her do.

“Shall we head back?” Esta said awkwardly pointing to the stairs.

“Right…” Wolstan said. He started after her but something held him back again. He turned back towards the podium and a new book was laying on top of the Icorlite book. ‘The Unique Types: Separating Fact From Fiction’. 

An icy sensation stirred in Wolstan’s belly as the whispers returned in the back of his head. The book hadn’t been there a moment ago and now it called to him once again.

“Look, if you’re still worried about those two I’m telling you-” Esta began.

“That’s not it. It’s this.” Wolstan cut her off. He picked the book up and presented it to her. It had a strange warmth to it.

“The Unique types? Was that here before?” 

“No, it was upstairs in the library next to Nedonis Origins…” Wolstan said. He left out the part about it calling him.

Esta stared at the book for a long time before she said, “Store it away and let’s go.”

“What? Why?” Wolstan asked and raised a brow before doing as she said. “The unique types are just a myth aren’t they? No one’s ever seen them.”

“They’re real, they just don’t present themselves to humans often and humans don’t usually make the effort to go to Drenid settlements,” Esta said as she led the way back into the sunlight. “You may have even heard about an incident with one. About twenty years ago one of the unique types nearly sank a city because humans were polluting her lands. Evrouin actually sent me to negotiate on his behalf.”

Wolstan never heard about that incident and he couldn’t imagine such a thing. He knew Drenids were capable of immense power but the thought of a single Drenid sinking a city was terrifying. He wanted to ask more about them but they had already arrived back to the library and Esta was going inside.

They made their way to the back only to find the librarian was gone but left a small note and newspaper clipping where they last saw her. 

Wolstan picked up the newspaper clipping first and read, “Theft at Leyford castle! According to officials familiar with the matter, something was stolen from the bowels beneath the castle during a meeting between Pluveria’s nobles, the king, and local experts. Among the guests were, of course, Cas, Jinga, Deka, Ivy, Brijir, and Galvin. But some say Trilx’s librarian and a member of the church were also present. No word yet on what was taken, Evrouin pleads for calm while investigations-”

“I’m betting we have what was taken,” Esta said, looking at the Dredot. 

Wolstan nodded and continued onto the note the librarian left and read, “I’m not sure who you are, or why someone from Zertold of all places is traveling with Evrouin’s lost Drenid but there seems to be more to you than meets the eye. Something told me to take a chance on you and my hunches have (almost) never been wrong. So I’ll once again ask you to do the right thing, and wish you good luck -Lofus.”

“What? As in Drenid expert Lofus?” Wolstan asked.

“That can’t be right. Lofus is a man, I’ve met him. This does seem like something he’d do though…” Esta said, rereading the note herself. She looked up from it and sighed. “Let’s worry about the librarian later, we have to plant the seeds somewhere and you have to think about what you’ll say to your father. We’ll be in Gelia before nightfall.”

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