On the fifth day of their mission, the once tranquil journey began to unravel as hidden discontent disrupted the fragile balance.
"Look at this tent—it's a mess," Milena said coldly, pointing at the crooked tent Cain had set up. Her tone wasn't loud, but the displeasure in her voice was sharp enough for Roddy and Thalio to feel the weight of her dissatisfaction.
"And the water distribution—who came up with these rules?" Lorne added, sitting on a rock and slicing a piece of dry rations. Her icy tone was as cutting as the frost she controlled.
Ever since Cain was appointed as the squad leader, the sisters had never truly acknowledged his leadership. Their words were subtle, but the barbs hidden in their tone and gaze were impossible to miss.
Milena and Lorne were adopted sisters, not bound by blood. Milena, the elder by two years, was the orphaned daughter of a former guerrilla wind elementalist. Lorne, on the other hand, hailed from the northern ice plains, her village wiped out in a brutal orc raid.
Their childhoods had been salvaged from the ashes of scorched earth and ruins.
The orcs had taken everything from them, yet in doing so, had bound the two of them together in an unbreakable bond. At the military district's shelter, they underwent the harshest training and honed an almost flawless synergy through countless combat simulations. Wind and ice—one to control, the other to suppress—could render enemies immobile within seconds.
"We're not here to play war games," Milena had once told Lorne. "One mistake, and we'll end up like our parents—dead and forgotten."
Thus, they placed their faith not in hope, but in each other.
Now, they found themselves assigned to a squad led by a boy who had yet to awaken his elemental affinity.
Though Cain had survived a battle against orcs at a waystation, the sisters felt that the truth behind that incident wasn't enough to prove his capabilities.
When the squad reached a dusty section of road near the border of Elamia, they encountered a fork in the path.
To the left was the route marked on the map as the safe passage, though it now showed signs of collapse and scorch marks, interspersed with unnatural fractures. To the right was an old path, flatter and seemingly easier to traverse.
Cain crouched down to examine the marks, his expression grave.
"These weren't left by ordinary beasts…" He ran his fingers over the scorch marks, feeling the residual heat and distorted energy. "Orcs were here, and not too long ago."
"There are no bodies or tracks," Lorne said coldly. "This is the designated route on the map. We should stick to the mission plan."
"Orcs clean up after themselves, especially when marching. The destruction here is too deliberate," Cain replied, shaking his head.
Milena stepped forward, her eyes full of doubt. "You're not even an elemental user. How can you be so sure?"
"We've seen orcs before. We've fought them head-on," Thalio interjected, frowning.
"And what about you two?" Roddy added, his tone no longer polite.
The tension in the air grew thick.
"Enough!" Cain, as the squad leader, stepped in to stop the brewing argument for the sake of the team's harmony.
"If you'd seen them, there wouldn't have been so many injured villagers," Lorne said with biting sarcasm.
Her words hit a nerve. Roddy and Thalio, recalling the villagers' suffering, felt their anger boil over. Roddy, his fist clenched and brimming with earth energy, broke free of Cain's hold and swung it toward the sisters.
Years of combat experience allowed Milena to react instantly. A gust of wind whipped up the dust and sand, forcing Roddy to retreat a few steps. Lorne raised her hand, and the temperature around her plummeted. Frost formed into needle-like shards, shooting toward Thalio.
The fight erupted. Cain stood back, watching the two sides clash.
Roddy summoned the power of the earth, causing the ground to crack and raise stone shields to block the wind blades. But Milena's wind techniques were cunningly precise, each strike a feint designed to throw him off balance.
Lorne, on the other hand, was unnervingly calm. Her ice wasn't just for freezing—it was calibrated to the exact temperature needed to slow nerve responses, making it nearly impossible for Thalio to release his lightning attacks quickly.
"They're too perfectly coordinated!" Thalio shouted, his protective lightning ring nearly torn apart by the frost.
"We can't keep this up!" Roddy panted.
But Cain didn't intervene. He stood at the sidelines, observing with hawk-like focus.
"You're just going to watch?" Milena sneered, sending a wind blade toward Cain. He sidestepped effortlessly, avoiding the attack.
"I want them to learn how to win. That'll be more useful than me stepping in," Cain said softly.
After several rounds of being suppressed, Roddy finally noticed the sisters' rhythm: Milena used wind to force opponents to move, while Lorne froze their predicted positions, creating a pincer attack.
"Thalio, change the tempo," Roddy called out.
"I got it," Thalio replied, reining in his lightning and using small electric currents to disrupt the stability of the airflow and ice crystals.
They began to adapt—Roddy used earth tremors to alter the sisters' footing, while Thalio sent lightning through the ground to strike at their weak points. Gradually, they found their rhythm, shifting from defense to offense.
The tide of battle turned.
For the first time, surprise flickered across Milena's face as her wind formations were shredded by lightning. Lorne's ice shield cracked under an earth spike, leaving her defenses exposed.
As the stalemate continued, Thalio suddenly threw a lightning talisman into the air, and Roddy struck the ground with a powerful seismic pulse, forcing the sisters into a pre-set trap.
The ground erupted. Lightning surged. The sisters, caught off guard, were driven back to the edge of danger.
Roddy and Thalio prepared their final strike—
And then—
A sharp sound of wind slicing through the air.
Cain moved like a shadow, stepping in to block their combined attack with his bare hands. His palms caught the intersection of lightning and stone, neutralizing the energy with sheer force.
The shockwave subsided. The ground was shattered, and all four fighters were forced backward.
Milena gasped for breath, cold sweat dripping down her forehead.
Lorne stared at Cain, for the first time feeling the weight of his presence—not through words, but through his strength.
"You… really blocked that?" she asked, her voice barely audible.
Cain didn't respond. He simply walked back to the map.
"If you still don't trust me, then we'll split up. Keep your communication crystals on."
Milena and Lorne insisted on taking the original route.
"We don't need you to decide our path, and we don't need your protection," Milena said firmly, tucking the communication crystal into her pocket.
Lorne's gaze was icy as she added, "You may be strong, but you're not our commander."
Cain was silent for a moment, then stepped closer to them, his eyes unwavering.
"I understand that you don't trust me," he said calmly, though his tone carried undeniable weight. "But you're part of this squad. You're soldiers of the Elamia defense line."
"This mission isn't just about gathering resources—it's reconnaissance. We're walking the edge of enemy territory, and every step could be a trap."
Milena looked away, saying nothing. Lorne, however, responded coldly, "We can make our own judgments."
Cain wasn't provoked. He took a deep breath and continued, "If you insist on going, do it your way. But remember a few things."
He raised his fingers, counting them off one by one:
"First, keep your communication crystal active. Report your position every thirty minutes."
"Second, if you encounter anything unusual, don't engage. Retreat and notify me."
"Third—you're not fighting alone."
He paused, his voice dropping to a solemn tone.
"I won't let your overconfidence add two more corpses to this squad. And I won't let you die without anyone knowing why."
Lorne flinched slightly, for the first time sensing the maturity and responsibility beneath the boy's exterior.
Milena said nothing, merely letting out a soft "hmph" before turning to walk down the path she had chosen.
Cain watched their retreating figures, his gaze sharp as a blade.
"Don't make me regret letting go," he murmured.
As dusk fell, the squad split into two groups. Cain, Roddy, and Thalio advanced along the route he had deemed safer, while Milena and Lorne stuck to the familiar yet damaged "safe" path.
But not long after—
A piercing scream shattered the forest's stillness, coming from behind them.
It was Milena's voice, raw and anguished.
Cain stopped abruptly, his ears straining to catch the sound. Closing his eyes, he felt the sudden shift in air pressure and the echoes of energy in the forest.
"Three… at least three orcs. And they're not normal," he said gravely.
"They… they…" Roddy's face turned pale.
"Shut up," Cain snapped, already drawing his blade. He bolted back toward the path they had come from, moving like the wind.
Thalio, surrounded by crackling lightning, followed close behind. Roddy summoned the earth's power, quickening his pace.
Leaves swirled in the night air as they raced forward.
Ahead lay unknown enemies. Behind them, the fragile thread of fate threatened to snap—
And they had to catch up.