Chapter 6: Run But Not Hide
As if it had heard Brewan's words, a loud roar tore through the air over the deserted town, this time much closer to the two young men. A faint chorus of other beastly noises sounded in the distance, indicating that the monster was not alone.
A loud crashing sound exploded over the town followed by yet another shriek. Kai took a few steps out of the warehouse and peeked his head around one of the pillars of the temple to try and get a view of what was happening.
He could see a few small shapes moving away from where a bright flaming light was hanging in the air somewhere near where they'd killed the boar. It flickered a few times as Kai heard another impact before a more defeated-sounding roar.
[It sounds like the beasts are fighting amongst themselves. They aren't organized like the ones led by the phoenix.]
Kai pulled back into the warehouse where Brewan was nervously peeking out of the door.
"Can you see what's going on outside there?"
Kai shook his head and looked back down towards the town.
"I'm not sure, but I think that the big monster that was fighting down there just ran into something strong… and by the sound of those roars, I don't think it's winning."
Brewan's face paled even further, and he stuttered as he backed away from the doorway.
"S-so you're saying that there are even stronger ones here?!"
"Yes, but this might be good for us. We might have a higher chance of escaping if the beasts are caught up fighting amongst themselves." Kai looked around the temple for a moment before walking back into the dimly lit storage room.
He glanced down at his sword, then back up at Brewan. "How far away are we from the nearest city? We might be able to make a break for it before the beasts can catch up to us, if we're quick."
Brewan looked up at Kai, his already sweaty forehead creasing with confusion. What was this guy talking about? Why would anyone want to run to a city ruin? Those places would be infested with even more, stronger beasts than the relative weakings wandering around in this section of the wild.
Brewan's eyes wandered down to Kai's torn robes. They looked similar to the ones worn by magic apprentices, but the style was noticeably different. Brewan hadn't previously had a chance to think about it given their precarious circumstances, but Kai's presence didn't make much sense.
His robes were unfamiliar, his accent sounded a bit off, and he somehow didn't know what a dispersion spell was. It was impossible to survive outside of a settlement even for a few days without having some way to escape from beasts, but Kai claimed to have none.
"Who are you?"
Brewan slowly tucked his hand into his robes, feeling the smooth leather cover of his magic tome, and his heart started to beat faster as he realized he didn't even have the mana to cast any of his spells.
"I'm Kai. My friends and I used artifact tokens to escape from a beast, and the next thing I knew, I woke up here-"
Kai's voice froze in his throat. Where were the others? He and Halia were here, so where were the rest of the disciples? A trickle of dread buried itself in Kai's heart as he heard the increasing volume of the two powerful beasts still duking it out somewhere in the town.
"Have you seen three idiots running around anywhere?"
Brewan resolutely shook his head, and Halia chimed in before he could speak.
[The inscriptions on the tokens were slightly different for each of them. Before you woke up, I had quite a bit of time to think about it. They've likely been transported to somewhere else, though I have no idea how far away they could be.]
"Shit."
The tension in Brewan's face finally started to fade away, and a knowing, sorrowful expression reached his face.
"Were they dear to you?"
"N-no, they're just a bunch of good-for-nothing idiots!"
"..."
"Ahem, and they're definitely still alive. Those annoying pests aren't so weak that they'd croak just because of a dumb bird."
[Ow. Rude.]
Brewan immediately recognized that Kai was in the 'denial' stage of grief. A few gears turned in the young man's head before he nodded again. His own chances of survival would probably be a lot higher if this guy didn't move on to the next stage before they could get somewhere safe.
"Yep, they're probably already at a settlement somewhere. They haven't been eaten by beasts, or anything else bad."
Kai let out another sigh as he peeked back outside.
Without me, Enla… or even Halia there to watch over them, who knows what trouble they'll cause. Urg… and it'll definitely be me who has to go and clean up the messes they've made when we find them again.
Kai glanced down at the ruby necklace hanging on his chest. Halia was annoying, easily distracted, and loved to pull pranks on him and the other disciples. Still, she at least knew how to make friends and interact with people. Out of the core disciples, Kai was the only one she hadn't become best friends with, but she never struggled conversing with people on the rare occasions of her going outside of the sect.
If Kai was the regal, noble head of the sect's youth, Halia was almost like their hidden mascot. She was good enough at socializing that even if more troubles were caused because of her, she never struggled to resolve them.
Hmph, her egging those three on is half the reason all of their personalities turned out so deviant. I wouldn't even need to worry if she acted half as mature as me.
Kai shook his head, trying to refocus on the current situation. He could worry about the other disciples once he was somewhere safe. Outside, the sounds of the battle were only growing more intense and loud.
"If we're lucky, the beasts might forget all about us after that. Brewan, where's the nearest city?"
The other young man's eyes narrowed slightly, but he answered without much delay.
"The nearest settlement is Talonia, but they only have a dozen defenders. We have to lose the beasts if we want to try running there; If we lure a horde their way, we'll get lynched before the beasts even arrive."
Brewan was about to open his mouth to continue, but a loud crashing noise exploded somewhere in the back of the dark storage room. A few orange rays of sunlight beamed in through a new hole in the old wooden walls.
On the opposite side of the room from where Kai was standing, an enormous bear crashed through the wall. It was easily double the size of the already massive boar he'd felled previously.
"D- Deep Ursine! That's a Tier 2 beast!"
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
-- Power
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