n

n

nSarah finished speaking, but Isaiah asked a question.

n”Why would they throw him away, Tiefel said he’s powerful and the spells he can use are unusual?”

nShe shrugged.

n”The Duke is a proud man, he was shamed in front of the surrounding nobles, who as you know spread the news, causing the Duke to overreact and banish him.”

nShe was looking at the handsome boy who only had one person in this world who he cared about.

n”But the Duke will come to regret what he has done”

nSarah couldn’t stand to see the boy spiraling even more, so she jumped out of the carriage and made her way over to him.

nAs she approached him she asked.

n”Archer are you okay?”

nHe was muttering to himself.

n”No, no not okay at all.”

n”I’m sorry, I didn’t intend to pry, I just noticed you’re talking to yourself and I was concerned.”

n”It’s alright, I’m not sure if I’m talking to myself or to someone else, there’s a lot going on in my head.”

n”I understand, would you like to talk about it?”

nArcher looked at her before replying.

n”It’s personal.”

nSarah continued to walk alongside him.

n”That’s what I’m here for, It’s not good to keep all those thoughts and feelings to yourself, they can consume you.”

nNodding while looking at him. When he heard her he sighed.

n”I don’t even know where to start, I’ve been through so much, and it keeps haunting me, the memories, the nightmares, It’s all so real.”

nShe placed a hand on his shoulder as she spoke.

n”I’m listening.”

nArcher trembled at her touch and quickly backed away from her before trying to speak.

nHe didn’t want to talk about it yet, it was still a very sore subject for him, she noticed his hesitation and spoke in a calm voice.

n”That’s okay Archer, you can talk to me whenever you feel ready.”

nSarah smiled at him and went back to the carriage, he watched her walk away as he remembered her words.

nAfter their talk, he managed to calm down the violent turmoil wrecking his brain by thinking of Ella’s smile.

nHe decided he would train his short sword mastery skill when they camped for the night.

nA month passed by just like that, the caravan only got attacked twice, the first time was a pack of goblins, and the second was just more wolves.

nArcher managed to kill 10 goblins and 11 wolves, which netted him a lot of experience and heart.

nLaughing as he slaughtered the beasts, which spooked everyone in the caravan apart from Sarah and the group Fate’s Fortune who watched with sad looks on their faces.

nThe wolves attacked during the first month, and the goblins attacked as they crossed the Cardina Bridge.

nThe bridge was on the Rhodora Kingdom’s side of the border crossing the Serpent River.

nArcher thought the kingdom must be in chaos for them not to clear a bunch of goblins ambushing people by the bridge.

nAs they were walking down the old-looking stone road, Archer checked his status.

nExperience: 2050

/3000.

nLevel Up: 48>49

nSP: 0>21

nCosmic Shield: 2>3

nCosmic Sword: 2>3

nEldritch Blast: 2>3

nFire Missiles: 3>4

nFireball: 0>1

nAura-Detector 0>1

nShort Sword Mastery : 0>2

nArcher was happy, he could have got a lot more experience but he trained his sword skill, managing to get it to level two.

nLoads of his spells leveled up as well due to practice.

nThe caravan approached an open mountain pass, Archer was sent to scout ahead with Baradar.

nAs they reached the top of the hill, they were met with a chilling sight.

nThe open mountain pass dirt road stretched out before them, dark and menacing against the muted sky.

nThe jagged rocks that lined the sides of the path seemed to loom over the narrow way, like sharp teeth waiting to devour any who dared to pass through.

nThe cold wind that blew through the valley below added an eerie soundtrack to the scene, howling through the twisting mountain peaks and carrying with it a faint, unsettling whisper.

nIt was as if the pass itself was alive, and it could sense the fear that crept into people’s hearts.

nDespite the creeping sense of dread, Archer could not help but stare down into the abyss below.

nThere was something magnetic, almost hypnotic about the mountain pass as if it held some hidden secrets and mysteries that begged to be uncovered.

nBut as the seconds ticked by and the darkness of the pass deepened.

nHe finally broke free of the spell and took a step back, choosing to stay safely perched on the hilltop rather than venture into the unknown dangers below.

nArcher looked at the tall blonde man, he saw the man’s green eyes widen in shock.

nBarador was shocked by what he saw before them, the two of them nodded at each other and quickly returned to the caravan.

nAs they were walking back Archer asked a question.

n”How come we are transporting carriages of food and other materials instead of storing them in storage rings?”

nBarador looked at the boy and laughed before answering.

n”Well Arch, food is perishable in the rings so there’s no point using those for food, the guild members do have things stored in the rings, such as clothes and medical supplies but they can’t store food, so they keep them in ice chests to last longer.”

nSarah, the head guard Arthur and the man in charge of the caravan Elric Hardwillow, manager of the Hardwillow merchant family who was accompanying them.

nThe two arrived in front of the group, Elric turned towards them.

n”So what was there?”

nBarador answered the man.

n”The mountain pass looks clear but there’s something strange about it, I’d suggest that we travel through it at first light as it will be dark by the time we reach it.”

nSarah and Arthur agreed but Elric didn’t and voiced his objection.

n”No we travel now to make it to the guild, we are 4 days away so let’s not waste time.”

nEveryone tried to protest but Elric didn’t hear any of it, so the caravan continued on towards the mountain pass.

nBy the time they made it to the entrance, it was already dark, the men who knew light spells surrounded the caravan and lit up the area.

nThe group who helped with the wendigos also stayed, thanks to Sarah convincing them.

nArcher was sitting on the roof of the first carriage, he had his aura detection on and picked up nothing.

nHours passed as they traveled through the mountains, and that’s when Archer’s aura detection picked up three signatures heading toward them.

nHe quickly stood up and aimed in the direction of firing an Eldritch Blast without warning anyone, the night was lit up with a violet glow as the blast hit something.

nSomething fell from the sky smashing next to the road a few meters in front of the caravan, Archer made his way over to it and looked at the thing.

nIt was a giant bat-looking creature with wyvern-like wings, it was twitching. 𝑖𝘦.𝒸𝘰𝑚

nArcher summoned his sword and stabbed the beast in the head.

nThe thing stopped moving and he stored it in his item box, but as he turned around he saw two adventurers getting picked up and dragged off screaming.

nJaen was firing water spears at the beasts and Barador was shooting arrows at them, Tiefel was healing the injured guards.

nIsaiah rallied everyone and managed to take one down by hitting it with a aura slash, the two beasts were taken down with some effort.

nThe caravan lost three men and have 4 injured, which Tiefel and another mage was healing.

nAfter the injured were healed the caravan started moving again.

nA few hours later more of the flying beasts attacked but this time they were prepared.

nSpells flew towards them tearing their wings apart, causing them to smash into the ground.

nArcher fired some fire missiles into two of the things, bringing them to a burning stop.

nAs the beasts dropped he ran over and started looting them.

nHe got six hearts from all the beasts and stored them away.

nThe bat beast he killed gave him 3000 experience so he wanted to kill more.

nThey continued on as Archer was eating some sweets and checked his status.

n‘Status.’

nExperience: 300

/3000

nLevel Up: 48>49

nSP: 0>2

n”Stop we camp here for the night!”

nThe head guard Arthur called out from the front.

nAs the moon rose high in the sky, casting an eerie glow over the land, the creepy grassland took on a new dimension of strangeness.

nThe tall stalks of grass rustled and swayed to the rhythm of the cool night breeze, casting strange shadows on the ground below.

nThe sky was dark and clear, save for the occasional cloud that would pass overhead, blocking out the eerie, silver light of the moon.

nBut it was the large rocks, jutting out from the earth, that seemed to come alive at night.

nThey stood like silent sentinels around the grassland, casting ominous shadows that seemed to twist and turn with every gust of wind.

nThe rocks looked almost like figures, frozen in time, watching over the fearsome landscape, waiting for something or someone.

nThe wind howled through the valley, whispering secrets that only the rocks and the grass could hear.

nThe air was thick with otherworldly energy, like the fabric of reality had grown thin, and anything could burst forth from the land at any moment. .

nA creeping sense of unease only intensified in the inky blackness of the night, as the observer felt like they were walking on the cusp of something both mysterious and terrifying.

nA

/N – Leave some comments, power stones, and gifts. It all helps support the book. Artwork in the comments or discord

n𝘳𝑎.𝒸ℴ

n