I drew back the enchanted arrow, feeling its power thrumming against my fingertips, but every time I tried to line up a shot on the Red Ashwing, one of its subordinates would dive at me, forcing me to dodge and break my aim.
The expensive arrow was useless if I couldn’t get a clear shot. Shooting while moving was one thing, but guaranteeing a hit on a moving target while constantly being targeted? That was asking too much, even with my enhanced abilities.
"Zephyr!" I called out, ducking under another set of talons. "I need an opening!"
"On one!" he shouted back, his blade finding the throat of an Ashwing mid-teleport.
I nodded, understanding immediately. We fell into a desperate dance of evasion and counterattack, Zephyr’s count echoing across the wastlands as we moved.
I leaped left, readying my posture.
Zephyr appeared behind me, parrying a breath attack.
A shimmering portal materialized right in front of me. Without hesitation, I dove through, emerging high above the battlefield with a perfect line of sight to the Red Ashwing’s skull.
Time seemed to slow as I drew back the bowstring to its limit.
The arrow blazed with brilliant light as it left the bow, cutting through the air like a falling star.
The Red Ashwing’s confident shriek turned into a scream of agony as the enchanted projectile punched clean through its skull and pierced through the bones.
The monster plummeted from the sky like a broken doll.
But three more Ashwings were already converging on my airborne position, talons extended. I managed to snap off a quick shot with a regular arrow, catching one in the chest, but that left me completely exposed and falling fast.
The other two closed in for the kill.
But readied to use the Interception Step when necessary.
The next moment, steel flashed in precise arcs around me. Zephyr had teleported into the fray, his blade severing wings and necks in a series of lightning-fast strikes. Both Ashwings were cut into pieces before they could even reach me.
I hit the obsidian ground in a controlled roll, immediately pulling out a spare bow from the storage. Raising my hand in the Red Ashwing’s corpse’s direction, I channeled my aura into the connection with the expensive arrow.
The arrow floated in the air and flew back into my hands at high speed.
With their leader dead, the remaining Ashwings lost their coordination. We made quick work of them - Zephyr’s teleportation strikes and my improved archery, combining into an efficient killing machine.
When the last creature fell, I couldn’t help but chuckle.
"You win. I got 19, you got 29."
Zephyr stared at me. "...You were counting?"
"You weren’t?" I stared back, incredulous.
"Damn, I should’ve said mine higher then."
Zephyr’s lips curled up slightly, clearly enjoying my reaction.
"So you were counting, huh?" I shot him a glare.
"At least you killed their leader," he muttered, walking toward where the Red Ashwing’s corpse still lay. He seemed to be searching for something specific, and after a few moments, he seemed to have found it.
I watched as he extracted a red-tainted black crystal from the creature’s chest cavity, the object pulsating with that familiar malevolent energy that made my skin crawl just looking at it.
"What is that?" I asked.
"A corrupted aura core," Zephyr replied, examining the crystal. "Perhaps the only ’valuable’ thing you can find in Wastelands.
I nodded, understanding why the emphasis was necessary. Anything that radiated that much dark aura couldn’t be truly valuable in any conventional sense.
Zephyr stored the core away and straightened up. "Let’s go. We need to reach the next zone if we want to make this trip useful."
"Alright, I’m always up for free stuff."
For the next six hours, we trekked deeper into the Wastelands, encountering increasingly dangerous creatures and phenomena.
We fought through a pack of Bonespiders - skeletal arachnids the size of horses that could phase partially through solid matter, making them nearly impossible to pin down. Their weakness turned out to be the bright light, which solidified their forms long enough to strike.
Then came the Ashwraiths - incorporeal beings that looked like floating cloaks of gray mist with burning red cores. They could drain aura in contact and pass through pure physical attacks. But we figured out a way to beat them somehow too.
But the strangest encounter wasn’t with the monsters, but with the Weeping Stones - massive obsidian formations that spontaneously began bleeding a thick, black substance while emitting sounds like distant sobbing. Zephyr warned me not to touch the liquid, as it would slowly drain memories from anyone who came in contact with it.
More importantly, I got to share my experiences in the Eclipse Keep with him. Especially the recent incident, the killing mechanism, and the black pill, which turned out to be a sleeping pill with a strong effect.
I got to hear his opinions about the hidden matters as well.
Then, I asked about their lives, when and how they left the academy. How were the others? Were the Knowledge Emporium and the orphanage operating well?
I also asked about Aeron and the academy, and even Luna, too. How she was faring and so on.
And he shared what he could do about their lives after leaving the academy.
According to him, Aeron and the others were doing well. And it seemed like Knowledge Emporium was thriving under a new manager, with the orphanage having actually expanded, taking in more children from the outer districts.
I guessed it was related to the elven brothers, Nolan and Emory.
"What about yourself?" I asked.
"I was learning about this stuff, the other realms, and the Abyss," Zephyr replied, his tone more contemplative than usual. "That old serpent might be insufferable, but he knows a lot of information and isn’t stingy when it comes to sharing it."
I absorbed everything he told me, the familiar ache of missing with relief that everyone was moving forward with their lives.
Half an hour passed as we continued our trek across the desolate terrain.
Zephyr stopped, pointing ahead to where the cracked obsidian gave way to something far more ominous.
I followed his gaze and felt my breath catch.
Towering walls of bleached bones rose from the earth like the ribcage of some impossibly massive beasts, forming natural canyons that twisted deeper into the forbidden zone.
"...So that’s the Ossuary Valleys."