Chapter 148: "I Am"

“Can you run?” Vivian asked the moment she and Ryo exited the house.

“Of course. Who do you think I am?” Ryo replied, his voice echoing deeply with a hint of resentment at her question.

“Good, let’s go. After this, we can consider the favor done.” Vivian said as she darted forth, her destination was obvious. In the distance there was a large plume of brown smoke rising high into the sky. The two adventurers took off, quickly dashing and darting through the nearby woodlands as they made to inspect the disturbance.

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“Hmm. Hmm. This is troubling. Very troubling.” He said as he gazed up into the blue yonder, one hand propping his chin up. At moments like this he wished the blue expanse could offer answers to life’s deepest mysteries. Of course, not many of those existed for him at this point. And yet, he was faced with a potential problem that would have dire repercussions for a long time to come. Or even worse the near and immediate future.

“Dammit. I’m not ready yet!” He groaned, his voice betraying exasperation.

He was just about to throw his hands up in the air and say “fuck it” when the sound of footsteps caused his ears to perk up.

“Oh. Damn. I completely forgot about them, messing around with these stupid Grimlock.” He sighed. He placed his hands on his knees and got to his feet, revealing that he’d been sitting on top of a Hulking Grimlock all along. The creature strained, groaning and growling as it struggled to push itself up from the ground. And yet, the harder it tried, the more it was forced downward.

Vivian and Ryo slowed their pace as they burst into the clearing of destroyed trees and strewn debris. The first thing they noticed was a massive crater not far from their position and the second was a dark skinned man draped in a green hooded cloak with gold trim. His clothing seemed high quality yet simplistic — black silk cloth pants, a brown leather belt, and a white silk cloth shirt.

Vivian immediately stopped in her tracks upon seeing the man, pulling forth her katana as she did so. The moment Ryo burst out of the woods, just a second or two behind her, he assessed the situation and reacted in much the same way.

“Who are you? And what’s going on here?” Ryo asked. His voice was neither calm nor threatening and reflected the fact that based on the man’s answer things could go either way.

“Well, I was planning to come and find you both. Along with the Runemaster but this saves me some time I suppose.” The hooded man said as he shrugged.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

At this statement Vivian’s eyes narrowed in suspicion while Ryo clenched his fist.

“Who are you?” Vivian asked. This was largely because she read the man’s information.

[Nine ‘Architect’ Rank 1]

Yet the scene before them seemed implausible for someone of rank one. Especially the Grimlock near the man’s feet. Despite being unrestrained, the creature seemed immobile. Vivian watched as it’s muscular hands desperately gripped at the ground, uprooting dirt and grass.

“I am.” The hooded man responded as he folded his arms behind his back and moved in their direction.

“I’m not in the mood for head games. Answer or I’ll make you answer.” Ryo said as a visible aura of mana began to pour forth from his body.

“That sounds fun. It’s been awhile since I played with anyone.” The man said as a devious smile spread across his face. He continued stepping forward even as Ryo moved to intercept.

“Hmph.” Ryo grunted as his mana flared. He thrust his fist forward and clenched his fist violently, causing the earth beneath the mysterious man to shift and churn.

“Oh. This looks interestin–” The hooded man’s words were cut off by the sound of rocks crashing against one another. The ground became filled with upturned earth as a massive mouth appeared. In one motion the face of a dragon shot upwards from the earth, sending erupting rocks in various directions and catching anyone nearby in the fury of the attack.

“Don’t kill him.” Vivian warned.

Ryo simply smirked before offering up, “I know. I’m just going to make him regret messing with me.” Ryo clenched his fist even harder, causing the jaws of the dragon to clamp closed on the unsuspecting man.

“That’s pretty interesting. But you’ll have to try harder than that.”

The voice came from behind Ryo. It caught him so off guard that Ryo moved to backhand the source of the voice on instinct. This movement was completely sealed by a hand pressed against his outer shoulder from behind.

“You son of a bitch. Don’t fuck with me!” Ryo growled as he struggled to force through his movement, and yet the harder he pushed the more pressure Ryo felt against his own limbs.

“Oop. That was pretty tricky. You almost got me. Ha.” The hooded man said as he turned at the last moment, grabbing the tip of Vivian’s extending sword blade with his bare fingers. Immediately the weapon stopped it’s travel, puzzling Vivian at the same time. What’s more she couldn’t wrench the blade from his grip either.

“Is this it? I’m surprised you two didn’t die earlier.” The hooded figure said as he pushed Ryo forward, causing him to fall onto his knees. At the same time he shoved Vivian’s blade away, forcing her off balance as well.

“Well. I guess that’s to be expected. That wasn’t a normal Grimlock after all.” He said as he avoided Vivian’s counter blow by ducking. Ryo seemed to be waiting for the man to react in such a way, he prepared an uppercut and synced it to the hooded man’s movements.

“Tsk. Ha. Ha.” The man laughed as Ryo’s blow found the mark — or so the Behemoth believed. One instant the man was there, the next he was gone. Both looked around feverishly, doubting their own eyes. Then, for some reason Vivian glanced upwards into the sky. There, some twenty meters above them (60 ft) was the hooded man. He gazed down at them before waving. The smirk on his face was both incensing and humbling.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about me. That thing is trying to kill you.” The hooded man said as he pointed to Ryo’s rear. Indeed, the Hulking Grimlock which was once trapped within the earth dragon’s jaws had smashed it’s way free, bursting out of it’s earthen trap.

Ryo spun around, preparing to fire off another earth blast, but the Hulking Grimlock was too quick and his wounds far too taxing. Ryo gritted his teeth as the creature closed in, his wounds causing him to wince.

“Oh well. Bonus points for wounding it –really. Although it is already weak from being over on this side of the veil..” The hooded man’s voice appeared next to Ryo’s ear, then in a flash the Grimlock was tackled. The two bodies moved in a blur, causing dirt to fly upwards in a trail. Neither adventurer could follow the man’s movements as he clenched the Grimlock by the throat and pushed it away from them by several dozen meters.

They then watched as the hooded man placed two fingers upon the raging creature’s forehead. It attempted to claw at him, yet it’s strikes were repelled by some unseen barrier. Finally, the creature forced it’s right hand into its chest, causing a familiar reaction to begin.

“Take cover!” Vivian shouted as she turned on her heel to run. Ryo was a few seconds too late in reacting as a red light began to brightly burn, filling the nearby environment.

“Aht aht. None of that. The last one blew up on me…but not you….” The hooded man said as the energy flowing into his fingertips intensified, causing the Grimlock to go limp. It’s body began to bulge and bubble as energy filled the creature to the brim. With his free hand the hooded man clenched the air near the creature’s face and summoned forth several strands of reddish energy from the creature’s body. This continued until the volatile energy formed a sphere which continually shrank in on itself, compressing the energy within.

This continued for no less than ten seconds and the bright light of destruction gradually faded until nothing was left but a small orb of contained energy. The Grimlock’s lifeless body fell to the ground, bursting into black ash as it did so.

The hooded man held up the contained disaster, inspecting it as he did so. He then waved his palm over the small orb, causing a translucent blue box construct to appear–further containing. Then with another wave of his hand he sent the item away, presumably into his inventory.

“Well then. Crisis averted. Now, I don’t have much time. Let’s chat.”