Land of Mirriam

The snow was failing his vision, as Simon fought and performed his duty. Amidst the hordes of Spikes, he was navigating swiftly.

“... Hmm,” Simon made a sound after cutting another Wall Crusher to bleed it to its death.

It took 2 slices on the meaty parts for a wound to bleed effectively, that was what Simon observed, but along the way… something started following him. He could see it at the end of his sight but never actually found it.

The darkness of the smoke created by the cannons was effective, daylights dying… all that, add to that the thing that was following him. The hero’s party was already far in its progress.

The crushers who were moaning in pain with their broken limbs were totally not ready… their muscles were still tense but their neck was fully open. Simon quickly observed this and he just had to try cutting it. To the boy’s surprise, it was easy for him to slice through it. But the thing that was following him kept bothering him, ‘Danger’ in the back of his head, and his instincts screamed.

“It’s strong…” Simon thought… it was a familiar feeling, that magic intensity that he felt back in the valley. It wasn’t the first time his senses were screaming to run away but he could not… there was an objective he needed to complete…

He remembered the old man again, the old man would give him impossible and dangerous tasks, even add time limits for its completion. The pressure was not new to him… he would lag but he was sure he could do it. ‘Stand your ground and fight’ Words from the old man.

He didn’t stop doing his work as he was thinking, another wall crusher with a case of a broken leg, Simon carved its meat with the purpose of bleeding it. Gallo was right, doing it like this was much faster, and although he was not a fan of killing something slowly he had to follow the plan, as per Gallo’s word their actions would change the battlefield in their favor.

His decision was firm… but he had to confirm what was following him. He dashed to his next crusher to bleed out but it was a fake, he jumped back to the direction the presence was coming. It was a Spike… but it was standing in 2 legs… it was a walker. Its tails are much longer and instead of barrel-like tips… it was blades. The Walker instantly launched an attack.

“CLANG!!!” 6x, Simon was quick and methodological with his sword effectively deflecting each blade in one flowing movement of his sword. He was now sure that the tails were blades… how about its speed?

Simon stepped back a little showing his impeccable footwork… the walker had no intentions to move since the tails were enough.

The flailing tail blades attacked him again. He dodged a few while watching the tail, he kept on dodging until he instantly grasped the length of the tails. He went out of range, the walker tried to keep up with its attack… Simon jumped back again, “Hmm… I’m faster?”

He remembered that the walker that was chasing them in the mountain was really fast. It seems that the walker is slow when it's standing on its 2 feet. Faster when it used its bladed tail to chase.

Simon smiles… he loves fighting, even the old man told him this… but what he enjoyed more was fighting a better enemy. A battle uphill, the sensation of danger was overwhelming him and he was starting to get back to that trance-like state… he stood still and the walker immediately noticed the change in his demeanor.

To the walker Simon disappeared without a sound… the help of the smoke and screams of the crushers muffled his movements. The walker knew that Simon was gone but he was still around.

<--->

The hero’s party continued their work, almost already methodological, Raphael stopped the wall crusher’s movements, and the Black Hood maintained the enchantment on Paramour and Paramour breaking the limbs in a 2-way combo, they had been working together for a long time now and already knew how to sync immediately.

“Para-mee!!! The kid’s progress has slowed down! I don’t hear his swings anymore!!” Raphael informed the hero who tirelessly pounded the crusher's limbs.

“I know… something is following him probably… the one they called walker, that same shit on Valley,” the hero spun and another limb was crushed.

“Should I back him up?” the Black Hood asked.

“No… he will ask for help if he is in trouble… we must stop the march of the crushers first… that was what Gallo said… he will do what he is told to do… he’s not a normal kid…” Paramour smiled and it was full of confidence from his words.

Maybe it was the spars, the 2 mages backing up the hero thought of this. Sparring between warriors was like a conversation that was what the last hero of the era told them. They probably knew each other as much as that for them to trust each other.

“Actually let us double up!!!! Hoodie give it to me!!!!” the Black Hood cast a much stronger buff that increases muscle speed and power but it would backfire later as muscle strains.

“Paramii! You are shivering?!” Raphael noticed as Paramour cocked up his shoulders. “Yeah! Someone must be thinking about me!! I wish it would be a woman!!” Paramour said.

“Nope”/”Nah” the Black Hood and Raphael reacted respectively.

<--->

The walker was pissed… really pissed. Simon after adjusting through the dodge and slice was now smoothly cutting through the necks of the disabled crushers. Rather than 2 slices he was now doing it with one. The deeper he fell into a trance-like state the better he moved… the slower the world moved.

He was not thinking of anything but he knew what was his goals. On his mind was the plain with dots, he could feel the whole field.

“ROAAARRR!!!!” the walker raged through… but Simon smirked… though the bladed tails started to move sharper he was dodging it with ease.

“I’ve adjusted… I can do this…” his sword started to glow but it was very faint. This must be what the old man had been trying to teach him… Magic Edge. He dodged another tail blade… Simon checked out his sword… it was true, it was a magic edge, he could tell since he had fought stronger opponents that were using the same magic… but the water coating the blade was glowing too… was it supposed to be like that?…

But thinking too much was not Simon’s forte, he would just try it out later against the hero, (Paramour felt the shivers this time) right now he concentrated on his job.

The next cut made the head of the crusher fly into the air. The Walker was quite surprised. Then Simon looked at the walker and started rushing into its range. It was time to test it… there was no more best test subject in front of him.

The walker who was clearly surprised attacked him in reaction, Simon for the first time aggressively parried the attacks of the 6 bladed tails while lunging forward for the walker. The walker started feeling danger and unconsciously started stepping back.

“Big mistake,” Simon said he didn’t let the misstep slide and 2 of the walker’s tails flew into the air.

<--->

It took 3 hours until the hero’s party disabled the last moving crusher. The crusher’s corpses made a good array of walls on the field. This also instantly thinned down the waves of spikes that were coming, this was all in the insight of their strategist. It was like Terra Forming but in a bloody way.

“We will be tracking back follow me!!!” the hero commanded. He switched his weapon into a spear again and mercilessly cut through the disabled wall crushers. The Black Hood and Raphael were still faithful to their duties to support Paramour… but after just a few necks they met up with Simon.

“Holy!! Kid you scare the shit out of me!!!” Raphael said. He was really surprised since there was no sound coming from him.

“Sorry, I run into some problem…” Simon was not facing them rather he was facing in the direction where he came from.

“It's a walker?” Paramour asked for confirmation… Simon nodded… well it was a real problem.

“Let's clear the place up so that they can see us!” the hero declared as he covered the tip of his spear with flames.

“Got it!!!” then Raphael waved his staff and the wind blew the dust and smoke away. Finally, they saw the walker… there were cuts on its body and some of its tails missing.

“Sorry… I couldn’t cut deep enough to weaken it…” Simon apologized but without empathy, Paramour noticed Simon’s sword which was glowing faintly it was the magic edge.

“Even with magic edge?” the hero asked.

“Yeah... it's good with its tail, I can make a hole in its eyes but it's really good with blocking… I baited it once that’s why it lost some of its tails… it will probably be more wary now”

Raphael’s eyes glowed… “The reason why you can’t cut its skin is because he is using a barrier-type magic… I can nullify it but it will take time”

Raphael was sure that the 2 walkers on the valley that they hit with Spear Flare didn’t wear this barrier magic. It seemed that the walkers were learning, the barrier magic could probably make the walkers withstand a single flash Spear Flare.

“Boost us we got this” Paramour commanded. “Don’t boost me! Please” Simon answered back.

<--->

Walker’s side.

The walker really looked furious, 2 of its tail blades were already gone. It immediately locked on to the boy that it had been fighting earlier but there were new strong humans in front of it. It suddenly remembered the magical signature of the one holding a long stick.

For the walker it would be an honor to probe the enemy's strength, its life would be the foundation for the others to bring the enemies down. Although the walker knew that it would die someday, it knew that the colony would live forever and that’s what’s all worth fighting for, laying its life for.

“It's fast when it's using its tail to move, slow when on its feet” Simon commented not that the walker can do that anymore because of its missing tails.

“CREEEEE!!!!!!!”

The Walker made a dissenting sound against its situation… Simon can tell it was feeling joy. “The bastard’s taunting us or am I just imagining things,” Raphael said, he was a good reader of the wind… he could sometimes sense the feelings and moods of a creature that is howling wind.

“... Of course” Paramour nodded and the battle began.

The walker started whipping its tail and Simon and Paramour went on left and right sides. After a few parry, Paramour immediately noticed the strange pattern of the attack. “It's walking closer!!” Simon immediately screamed.

Simon knew the range, the walker was trying to extend his range to the 2 back liners behind them. It's not that Paramour is slow but the spear that he was using is not as versatile as a sword for deflecting the whipping blades.

“I will defend them!!!” Simon immediately went a bit back. Raphael was currently casting the spell they needed to break the magic barrier the walker was wearing. It was not a complicated spell but Raphael needed to decode first how the walker was using the magic barrier.

“You monster… let’s see which one would go first, my spear or your damn barrier getting breached” Paramour started raging with his attacks.

The walker would use 2 tails to fight against Paramour, then the other 2 tails to attack the back line. “… Want to change?” Simon for some reason annoyed Paramour. “Shut up!!!” Paramour smiled after saying this.

The rhythmical deflection of the tail blade resonated with the field. Raphael is already halfway casting his magic. The black hood was keeping a lookout and was using wind magic to blow approaching spikes.

The walker was starting to feel that the hero was slowly getting used to its tail blades and its patterns of attacks and in a few moments, not only that the hero was deflecting the attacks, he was already launching counterattacks too.

And a few more moments passed… the walker was using all its tail just to survive. “You adjusted… I will attack too” Simon already expected it, so he left the backline defense.

<--->

“You know… that sword is really good, sorry that it has to break here” Raphael apologized. “When we get back, I will introduce you to a famous blacksmith, the Seyers would really love you” Paramour added.

“I have an idea,” Simon said as he walked closer to the corpse of the walker. He knew how sharp its tails were, he had been the one deflecting it for the party. 'He probably saved us more than 10 times during the fight’ That was what the Black Hood was thinking watching Simon’s back.