“Be sure to come visit sometime, alright?” Agne demanded, pulling Vin in for a warm hug and squeezing him with a surprising amount of force. “I can’t very well eat all these delicious vegetables myself!”

  “I promise I’ll try,” Vin managed to get out, his voice a bit muffled with his face pressed up against the older infernal’s tunic. Finally breaking free, Vin gasped for breath as Agne turned and wrapped The One That Paints In Red in just as big a hug, patting the trogum on the back.

  “And you remember everything we talked about, alright? Don’t forget those paints we made together!”

  “This one won’t forget The One That Squeezes,” the trogum said, even its mental voice seeming to grow slightly strained under the infernal’s tight hug.

  Waving goodbye to Agne one last time, Vin and his temporary companion met up with the rest of the group. Scule had finally woken up after his long rest, and Shia had already checked in with all the friends she’d made in the village, letting them know they were okay.

  “So we’re really doing this?” Scule asked, giving the trogum a sideways stare. “You know we don’t have to bring it with us.”

  “If we’re heading there anyway, it seems cruel not to,” Vin shrugged, noticing something new about the petian’s appearance. Where before his spatial bag-turned cape had been secured with just a simple knot, it looked like Scule now had some sort of remarkably small brooch keeping it on his person. It was still large enough to cover nearly half the petian’s chest however. “What’s with the brooch?”

  “Oh, this? Well, a certain Explorer refused to help me with my language problems regardless of how many times I asked, so I decided to take matters into my own hands,” Scule grinned, tapping the brooch. “Malzar made it for me! It’s a translation charm. It won’t last forever, but he said I should get at least a couple of weeks out of it so long as I don’t spend hours each day talking.”

  “Let’s hope,” Alka snorted, earning a giggle from Shia and a glare from Scule.

  “I think I liked you better when you were hiding inside Vin half the time,” Scule shot back, unable to keep his annoyed look up for more than a few seconds before chuckling himself. “It’s good to have you back Alka. These two goodie-two-shoes just don’t understand that sometimes you have to get your hands dirty. Come to think of it…”

  Hopping down from his usual perch upon Vin’s shoulder, Scule scampered up Alka’s cloak before jumping onto her own shoulder and tapping against her hardened form. “Might be a little hard for relaxing, but I have a feeling this is gonna be a much smoother experience than riding on Vin’s shoulder. You’re a lot of things Vin, but I wouldn’t list ‘graceful’ as one of them.”

  “I think I’ll survive,” Vin chuckled, checking to make sure Reginald was safely napping in his pocket before securing his staff on his back and hiking up his pack. “No sense wasting time. Let’s head out!”

  Shia summoned forth Blossom, and the five of them took off once more into the insect filled forest. Vin had originally feared it would take Alka some time to get used to moving around in her new body.

  He’d forgotten that she didn’t need to sleep like the rest of them.

  He quickly realized she must have spent the entire night running around practicing because Alka’s new form was as fluid and fast as ever. She wasn’t nearly as lightning quick as she had been in her ghost form of course, seeing as she could no longer just phase through whatever she needed and had to worry about physics once again, but the Slayer’s true grace became quickly apparent.

  Vin watched in awe as Alka seemed to practically flow around trees and slip between flying insects as they ran, already utilizing her new tireless form to the extreme. Her strange ball-like sockets allowed her an entire new range of movement impossible for any regular human to pull off, and Vin had a feeling Alka was going to be an even more terrifying combatant than she already had been while possessing his body.

  Almost as surprising as Alka’s grace was the fact that their tag along was actually keeping pace with them. Vin had expected the trogum would force them to slow down, but miraculously, the insect-like being was following along right behind them. Vin had a feeling they’d leave it in the dust in a dead sprint, but with all the trees and insects they had to dodge, they were far from their max speed.

  “Wow, this is like comparing a level cart to a drunken horse!” Scule called out, grinning at Vin from Alka’s shoulder as they made their way through the forest. Vin ignored the giddy petian, focusing on keeping an eye out for any more giant spider nests.

  The last thing they needed was to anger a swarm of monsters before getting Alka her new weapon.

  Thankfully, they managed a rather uneventful trip this time, with Vin only having to shoot down a couple of lone acid spitting butterflies. A task that he was only all too happy to take care of. Before they knew it, they came across the edge of the fragment, and Vin instructed everyone to halt as they took in a brand-new sight.

  Just past the treeline of the infernals’ fragment was an entire mountain. The moment the new fragment started, the ground began sloping upwards, heading straight up what looked like at least a thousand feet.

  “Wow, that is steep,” Alka said, her glowing eyes narrowing as she looked up the mountain that they actually knew to be a live volcano. “How do you think those dwarves make it down this uninjured?”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Maybe they just rolled?” Scule offered, frowning up at the giant incline as well. “But actually, I don’t see any stairs or anything.”

  “It’s steep, but it’s not that steep,” Vin said, shooting confused looks at his companions. “Have none of you guys ever gone hiking before?”

  Three sets of blank stares looked back at him, and Vin felt his face heating up. Offering them a sheepish grin, he coughed into his fist. “Right. Sorry. Sacred Forest… Holy citadel… Alka’s weird town… All rather flat locations now that I think about it.”

  “My point is, we’re in for a strenuous hike, but so long as you keep your center of gravity forward you should be fine,” he pointed out, reaching behind him and grabbing his staff. “Walking sticks wouldn’t be a bad idea either, if Shia wouldn’t mind making a few real quick to balance us out. The two of us only need one more to offset our own staffs, but Alka could use two, and I guess The One That Paints In Red could actually use four?”

  Shrugging, the Druid quickly grew a few sturdy branches from her staff before snapping them off. They weren’t nearly as well made as Vin’s staff, which she had taken the time to hand carve herself, but they would do for a quick hike.

  Walking sticks in hand, Vin took the lead, showing his companions how to lean forward and ensure they wouldn’t slip backwards and go tumbling down the steep incline.

  As entertaining as it would be to see one of his friends rolling out of control down the mountainside, it would be a real pain to have to hike all the way back down to check on them.

  Fourth ring fragment discovered! 2,000 exp gained.

  “Make sure you shout if you see a monster or anything!” He called back over his shoulder as he stepped onto the new fragment and immediately began trekking uphill. The moment he stepped between fragments he noticed how the air seemed to thin a good bit and take on a chill.

  Just how high up was this fragment? He wondered, frowning as they began scaling the outside of the volcano.

  Despite the lack of vegetation, with only the occasional clump of grass or tiny bush dotting the rocky mountainside, that wasn’t to say there were no signs of life. As they trekked, everyone far too focused on breathing in the thin air and keeping their balance to worry about chatting, Vin spotted a couple of critters running out and about.

  A family of rabbits with exceptionally small ears darted past them as they approached, a good half dozen baby rabbits following the adult like ducklings. A strange animal that looked like a blend between a mountain goat and a large cat easily leapt up the mountain when it saw them coming, letting out an angry hiss before vanishing into some sort of small den. Vin even spotted a surprised shrew that quickly dug its way back into the mountain when they disturbed its sunbathing.

  Vin couldn’t help but chuckle at the scared look on the shrew’s face as it vanished, and he offered the rodent a silent apology as they hiked past. He always felt bad about disturbing the natural wildlife during his travels, but a lot of the time the animals ended up spotting him long before he even realized they were there.

  Just as he was beginning to think the steep mountain was going to be the worst of their worries, Alka shouted from behind him.

  “Vin get down!”

  Weeks of listening to Alka and letting her command his body seemed to have left their mark, as Vin dropped to a crouch before he even fully processed Alka’s words. Apparently, they hadn’t come a moment too soon either, as a split second after he’d dropped a missile rocketed past where his head had just been, the wind screaming past his ears.

  “What was that?!” He asked, spinning around and nearly losing his balance on the steep incline.

  “Flying monster!” Alka called back, her head unnervingly turned an entire one hundred and eighty degrees as she tracked the monster without turning around. “Some sort of bird, and a lightning fast one as well! Can you shoot it down?”

  “I can try!” Vin looked around, spotting the dark smudge shooting back up into the sky. It looked like an oversized falcon of some sort, but that didn’t mean it would hurt any less if it impacted one of them at such a high speed.

  New monster discovered! 200 exp gained.

  “Yeah I see it!” He said, squinting and lining up a shot. Hitting a target moving so fast wasn’t going to be easy, but if he-

  Vin paused, realizing he was being stupid. Lowering his hand, he waited patiently for the bird to gain altitude, watching as it circled back around to the top of the mountain and prepared to dive them again.

  “Uh, Vin? You giving up so soon?” Scule called out, nervously watching the bird come closer.

  Vin couldn’t really blame the petian, seeing as he was small enough for the monster to snatch him up and fly away without warning.

  “Just wait,” he said, tracking the monster carefully. It wasn’t long before the bird had enough height for another divebomb, and it pulled in its wings, turning itself into a living missile once more as it shot down the steep mountainside a second time. Vin waited until the last second before casting his spell with a grin.

  “Stone Wall.”

  It might have been his imagination, but he swore he saw the bird’s eyes widen just before it smashed into the extra thick wall that hadn’t existed moments ago with a sickening crunch. Based on the sound, the monster had slammed into the slab of solid stone with enough force to break just about every bone in its body.

  Chuckling, Vin stepped carefully around the wall, checking the monster and confirming it was dead. On top of looking like a giant falcon, the bird’s beak was sharpened to a point, acting more like a spearhead than a beak. Clearly it had been trying to shoot directly through his body, which would have been a horrifying way to die.

  “I’ve got to buy Eithan a drink or something the next time we see him,” he muttered, nudging the dead bird with his staff.

  “Nice work,” Alka said, clearly impressed as she hiked up next to him and took in the downed bird, her head once again facing the normal direction. “Guess you’ve come a long way from needing me to fight your battles for you.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m a long way off from competing with a trained Slayer,” Vin said, remembering just how many scrapes Alka had gotten them out of over the past few weeks. “Once we get you a new weapon, I’d love it if you kept fighting my battles for me.”

  “We’ll see,” Alka laughed, nudging him with her shoulder and taking the lead, continuing up the side of the volcano.

  “First we have to convince one of these dwarves to actually help us out!”

  They're taking the trogum to Isen-wait, wrong franchise.

  mountain stretching a quarter mile into the sky right in front of you. They didn't even get to see it from a distance first, it was just suddenly there. That's got to be quite the geological shock!

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