Night had set upon the Camar Forest, as the moonlight was shining through the trees crowns.
There were no singing birds or fighting monsters.
Whoosh
The wind whirling through the labyrinth of trees could be heard when listening closer to your surroundings. Everywhere besides one place...
Deep inside the forest, a small campfire was lit, just big enough to give some heat to it's surroundings. Next to the campfire, several trees had been felled, leaving only tree stumps that had lost all of their vitality although they had been separated only recently.
A man in silver armor sat on a rock right next to the fireplace, poking the bruning wood with his spear. The light reflected on his armor, creating an effect that seemed to make his armor shine.
"... ..."
"Haaaahhhh...I already said it...."
Although one thing differed from usual, instead of talking with another person, Damascus seemed to be talking with himself?
"."
"Tsk, it is always the same..... Sometimes I hate this life I made..."
"..."
"I am not rude, I treat him like any other person. And even then he will just become like 'him' anyway"
"... ... ..."
"Always this pushing on, pushing on.... but everything is still wrong every time!"
Damascus swung his spear to the right, ripping a burning log of wood out of the fire place and throwing it far into the woods.
A tension slowly built up as Damascus seemed to get more and more angry at whoever he was speaking with. However, this wasn't out of hatred or annoyance, rather..... He was frustrated.
He stabbed his spear into the rock besides him and looked into the sky. Millions of stars illuminated flew in heaven, sparkling with different intensities as well as each one different in size.
Slowly raising his hands, the man took his helmet off and put it next to him. However the light of the fire didn't reach his face, leaving it shrouded in darkness.
"I will protect the boy, I gave my word..."
"..."
"Tsk, it isn't important what happens to m-!"
Growl
A huge monkey-like creature walked on it's four paws towards the knight. It looked like a Baboon monkey, however it had 8 eyes and instead of a bright red behind, a large sac was protruding as if it were a spider.
What was more serious, this specimen seemed to be a Disaster III class Monster, although the lowest in contrast to other Disasters, they were still a being to be careful of. To reach this power, one had to live a long life as well as have a certain intelligence.
The same was the case for this being as the spider-monkey hybrid didn't only look at Damascus but also a small boy with white hair that slept next to the fire with a blanket that seemed to halfway be on him.
However, Damascus didn't seem to care as he kept looking into the stars as if for a wonder to happen.
The monster took advantage of this and an obvious glimmer could be seen as it slowly crept closer to the child, thinking it hadn't been noticed until now.
Although, that was a mistake...
"Oi bug..."
In an instant the monster had stopped moving, several of it's eyes turning towards the knight. Slowly however each of them started shaking when they saw him, near uncontrollably.
But it was already too late...
Blrgh
Pop!
The being that had only moments prior thought of it's evil plan had now become something alike to a squashed insect. It's sac had popped, and it's entire body had flattened as if pressed into a pancake by 2 invisible walls.
"You 2..."
As if out of nothing, 2 black hooded individuals came out of the shadow of Wendel, bowing towards Damascus.
"Clean that thing up, the scent of it's innards and blood only attracts more and I have no patience to deal with them."
The men stood up and walked towards the corpse of the former Disaster, then they slowly went back to merging with the darkness of the surroundings. Then as they had completely disappeared, the carcass slowly started sinking into the floor, as several bitemarks started to appear on it's body.
It looked like the floor had been made out of quicksand and an invisible bear was eating the corpse.
Damascus however still looked into the sky, as in a moment, a small ray of moonlight shone upon the mans right eye, revealing an iris with the color of his armor.
"The stars really are something again...Right?"
"..."
-----
At the upper boarder of the Camar Forest lied the Luxrion Empire, one of the mightiest nations in the Yarel Continent.
The Luxrion Empire was a nation with an historical might that could only be rivaled by few. One of the reasons why the empire has gained such might is for one their dominion over a royal Heder which is passed down to the future emperor of the country.
However another reason for their might lies also in their border with the Camar Forest. As the nation controlled of 1 of the 2 main entries to one of the biggest Monster Tombs in the entire world, it had a huge amount of value.
The Camar Forest was different from any other Monster Tomb as it was as big as a nation, the reason for this absurd size and infamy is for the very reason that this tomb has more than one Core.
Cores were the name which were assigned to the ruling monster in a Monster Tomb. However Camar Forest was different, it had a total of 5 Cores that moved every so often through the inner parts of the region.
Therefore, adventurers tried to go into the unclaimed region to find lost treasures or hunt strong monsters as well as merchants came that bought the goods off these adventurers.
The profit the Empire earned through this connection was so good, that even the side-effects were acceptable. Because some times, monsters escaped the Monster Tomb and tried to invade the country.
These invasions were called Monster Waves and occurred every few years as another monster inside the forest ranked-up into a relatively high tier or a Core moved.
However currently the entire border with the empire was under lockdown. Since some days, herds of monsters of different ranks rushed out of the Forest as if they were escaping from something.
To the dismay of the empire this meant that these monsters also started attacking their villages and cities.
The emperor decreed therefore that the Southern Army would take station at the boarder and control the surplus of monster waves until a solution had been found or the reason for this occurrence had been found.
In one of the field bases near the border was a gathering point for many of the units that were dispatched to resolve the issue. It had also gained in the short time of it's existence the title: Camp Mortem
Sir Rayland Roust, Major General of the 4th southern Division of the Luxrion Empire, was the leading officer of said camp. Currently residing in his personal office, he was analyzing the most recent developments and exit points of the Monster Waves.
Slowly ashes fell down of his already half inhaled cigar as an evident look of frustration marred his features.
He had been in the army for a total of 46 years, but in all that time, he never witnessed such an anomaly. By each day, more monsters rushed out that the day before, giving his entire Division difficulties in keeping them under control.
Additionally, the leading General also refused to send reinforcements due to a personal grudge that had been developing ever since getting to know each other.
Crack!
"Goddamnit!"
Swinging his arm over the desk, a vase was thrown off, shattering in the process.
"Those beasts are everywhere and that in masses unlike ever before.... Supplies keep dwindling due to sporadic cancellations from the central as well...."
Knock Knock
Glancing towards the door, the General quickly tried to calm down.
"Come in..."
The door swiftly opened and a man in his thirties entered the room, saluting in a rigid manner.
"Major General Roust! We have gotten communication that the Lumos Squad has entered the border and is currently progressing to the inner regions of the Camar Forest!"
"Good.... Those guys have reached the Ductor or Thaumus Rank, they should be able to safely find out the reason for these sudden waves.... Especially with a leader of his caliber...."
A sentiment of relief filled the mind of Roust as he had finally gotten a positive message.
The Lumos Squad was a special unit that was sent on reconnaissance task such as this since their existence. Having a nearly impeccable track record, nothing indicated that this expedition would be any different, especially when the commander of the squad was an Argos ranked individual.
"Redirect the message to headquarters and reinforce the eastern watchtowers men. The yare on the brink of collapsing."
"Yes Sir!"
Saluting again the man quickly turned and rushed out of the office, closing the door behind him.
"Haaaahhh... What is going on in that cursed region..."
-----
Inside the inner regions however, there was an entirely different situation than normally. Instead of monsters roaming around, ready to pounce on everything, it seemed rather quiet.
It had been slowly started being like this since 2 weeks, as 2 individuals were roaming through the territory.
I was 2 weeks into my training with Damascus and there had been some development in my rank. Looking for a short moment forward and thinking about it, a golden window manifested in front of me.
}————{ Arcane }————{
Name: Wendel E. Maelstrom
Age: 12
Mage: Thaumus III
[Progression]: 32%
Physical: Tiro I
[Progression]: 17%
Core Capacity: 100%
Blessing: Purity
Gift: Absorption, Inner Circulation, Pure Body, God's Language: Arcanum, Arcane Creation, Formula Drawing
…
..
.
}————{ End }————{
'Nice'
A good progression could be seen.
I was even so confident, that I could say that a monster of a lower rank than myself, would have problems against me in a fight. Although they were much stronger physically and even if my rank was a Thaumus, the output and strength of my spells was by far stronger than your average spell at this rank.
And so I was currently training my Mana as well as it's circulation.
After my first usage of Pure Mana, Damascus said that I was forbidden of using Pure Mana in spells for the near future. Reason for that was that I had been unconscious for a total of 2 days after using only 1 spell.
When having woken up, he instantly threw me again into the lair of a Menace tier monster, making me run for my life....
'Lunatic bastard...'
However, I have gotten some information in my time of learning Pure Manas circulation and function.
Drawing an arcane circle was alike to letting my mind flow freely around. No thoughts were necessary and it relied heavily upon instinct and creativity.
Each ring in the spell also advanced it's strength by a lot. The runes and what they meant also changed the cost and strength of each spell. It was entirely different and far more complex as I had anticipated.
Also since I have gained a few percentages in my Mage Rank, it had also gotten slightly easier to use Pure Mana and to channel it.
Although there were still things that seemed impossible to ever accomplishing. For one, the idea of casting multiple spells with Pure Mana, was seemingly far too difficult to execute and only possible if one had some artifact or medium which acted as a storage devise for the arcane circles.
The other idea consisted of the idea to cover your entire body with Pure Mana like a golden armor, however when using Pure Mana one has to concentrate it heavily in the runes, else it will dissipate really quick. One would need to gain a large capacity for Pure Mana as well as a strong control over it to be able to do such a thing.
So it was for the moment out of bounds for myself.
'I still have a lot to -!'
Tilting my head quickly to the side, a dagger buried into the tree that I was leaning on. A slight anger rose up in me but hastily disappeared like always.
Who it came from you ask?
"Tsk...."
Damascus was currently throwing irregularly daggers into my direction, nearly killing me a few times. He said that it was for training purposes but the more he did it the more I thought him to only do it to amuse himself.
Him looking like a knight from fairy tails really was only on the exterior as his insides were rotten like those of a demon.
Even the monsters seemed to think so as they had slowly distanced themselves from our position. They had chosen that running away was by far more easy than hunting us.
'Well not confusing with a monster like him roaming around here. He could maybe even contest one of the cores of the tomb.'
As of what Damascus had explained the Camar forest is one of the largest Monster Regions as it has not only 1 but several cores but a total of 5. They roam around the entire territory, making it hardly possible to predict where the center differs from the inner regions and the outer regions.
Making it also awkward that a temple had been built here in a possible core region, when a monster of terrifying level could have felt its presence. Although there were most likely security measures against such a thing happening.
But they don't try to leave the area as the cores know themselves that there are entities stronger than them in the world.
'This really is like a dream....'
I again slowly started thinking about the various things in the world that I still wished to see.
How the cities looked?
How big the castles were?
Did they ride carriages?
What different peo-
Whack
A whack to the back of my head brings me back to reality, as an aching pain started appearing. Looking to my right, I see Damascus standing there. With arms crossed, he shook his head lightly
"Ouch..."
"No daydreaming like last time."