There was no sound under the cover of night. Of course there was not! Who would dare to utter a word when a horde of monstrous creatures could appear at any moment, their slobbering maws eager to feast on Dormant flesh?
They were all battered and exhausted from the battles they had overcome. Even getting to a relatively safe location to camp out through the night was a hassle.
Calling forth the golden runes of Resonance, her eyes fell to one thing in specific.
[Fragment Count: 33/2000]
An exasperated sigh left Ira's lips. 'This horrendously slow progression is going to be my doom… Literally!'
She had only six years to become a Sage, and then she would have to slay the beast codenamed R-0.
It was practically an impossible task;
'Humanity has been climbing the ranks for three decades, yet that Oracle wants me to achieve Sage rank in record-breaking time? It is all ludicrous!'
Ira did not even know if her Fate would be brought upon her by a beast—perhaps a human would be the one to sentence her to the clutches of death.
Leaning back against the ground, Avian yawned.
"This is the worst day of my life. Monsters everywhere, corpses littering the ground, and then we have two mighty girls doing all the work on protecting us." Her lips curled upwards as she began to hum.
"Do you want all of us to be slaughtered by beasts..? Be quiet..!' Bell said.
He was right, after all. Even so, Avian continued her humming.
They could feel the tension growing in the atmosphere. They had not a moment of true rest in days. So, Ira needed to find a way to calm the duo down.
She doubted her skills in leadership. She had never truly shone in groups and had especially never been an outstanding leader.
Regardless of her leadership skills, she spoke as quietly as a mouse. "Silence. That, or I will sever your Achilles Tendon and leave you for dead."
Staring at her with a tinge of fear, both Bell and Avian silenced themselves.
Ellendore was left anxious at the threat towards her lover. Would Ira seriously doom the two over humming?
Most likely not. Even so, no one dared to utter a word.
From Bell's perspective, it seemed to him that Ira could kill every single one of them there. Perhaps not Bariealla, but even then he was not certain she could overcome Ira's raw might with strategy alone. Paired with her slightly abnormal appearance, he felt as if she was more akin to a fallen angel who still wore its angelic wings, than a human.
A nobody outclassing someone as noble as Bariealla? Such a thing had only happened twice in the distant past.
The frightening girl began to speak once more. "Bariealla, can you take the first watch? I am utterly exhausted…"
Looking Ira up and down, Bari nodded her head gently.
"Thank you."
Naturally, she would not leave Bariealla without enhancement. Thus, she commanded her mist to enhance the noble lady's body.
'Had I been too harsh with my threat? Whatever the case, what has been said is done.'
Holding onto the past had only led to problems for her, and so she had learned to forget it. Perhaps she was a hypocrite, on more counts than one.
◇
A thundering boom awoke the Dormants. It was slightly more than four-hundred meters away, and so a massive heatwave quickly crashed into them.
Naturally, the distance between them and the ray of light was large enough that the heat did not melt the flesh off their bones, nor do massive amounts of damage; in fact, it had done none.
Regardless, neither of the five could sleep anymore.
"Well, it seems we might want to get a move on. We will have to work around the flames that spread across the ground, though." Bariealla said, her voice slightly drowsy.
The cohort pulled themselves to their feet, continuing their march towards Cammie and Kaine.
Of course, it was not without problems. At certain points, they were forced to run away from abominations of varying ranks and classes.
They were tired, hungry, and thirsty. Everything seemingly wanted them dead, and the things that did not were corpses.
It was a horrid thing. They had no time to rest or recover their reserves of dwindling Realm Thread.
They were surviving the impossible—would it last? Would they live to see sunrise? Did they have a way to achieve it?
No, they did not. Even so, it had to happen.
And Ira was going to make it happen.
A few dozen meters away, an Aberrant Tyrant lay. Its body was completely furred, with a pair of murky white eyes, and its nose crushed inwards. Even so, its furred ears stuck straight up in an attempt to locate any prey.
They did not dare to make even a single movement. How could they? They had undoubtedly already entered its domain, and thus even a single sound would result in their violent deaths.
'What can I do..? Think, Ira!'
They had not planned to encounter a Tyrant, and so they were left without a clue on what to do.
'The only way we live is if a ray of light strikes it directly; perhaps even that is not enough to kill it.'
Tyrants were the general to the generals, the king of kings, the embodiment of dominance over those of the lesser ranks and classes. They were the lowest of the pinnacle of power—yet their strength was far more formidable than that of a Demon.
Of course a Tyrant was stronger than a Demon, it was an entire class higher—that was not what made it deadly.
What did, was the fact that the jump in power between a Demon and a Tyrant was nearly thrice that of all the previous ones. It was the largest jump in power, at least that is what humanity knew of.
No one in history had ever become a Terror.
From the Demon class and beyond, one needed not only the Fragments, but also the conditions to be fulfilled.
Unlike the ranks which explained what needed to be done in order to complete the trial, classes were different.
Ira knew why, she had come to the conclusion not too long ago. 'Because of Resonance… that damn insidious system!'
They only had to wait out the beast and then they could escape from its treacherous ability.
It was relatively easy for Ira to remain standing, but could Bell, Avian, or Ellendore manage the same feat? Most likely not.
She knew for certain that Bariealla could do it, unless the beast remained there for multiple days.
Ira was planning for the worst, prepared to sacrifice the other three in return for Bariealla.
Even so, she would not needlessly sacrifice them if she did not have to.
She gritted her teeth quietly. 'Damn it all!'
They only had to wait the beast out… Wait it out.