Riftan’s POV (Under the Oak Tree Side Story) - Chapter 12

Chapter 12 – Riftan’s POV

“The weather won’t get worse in the next two or three hours.”

Riftan, who was measuring the direction of the wind and the thickness of the clouds, leapt on to a rock. Ruth, who was panting laboriously as he followed him, sighed heavily and crawled up the rocky path. They hiked for another 40 minutes, then took a rest when they found a small pool of water.

“Let’s take a short break here.”

The wizard only nodded his head, having no energy left to respond in words. Riftan opened his canteen of water and drank the remaining content. He then scooped up some water from the pool and handed it to the wizard. Ruth plopped down on the ground, drank a bit of water and asked Riftan breathlessly.

“Will it rain?”

“… Soon.”

Riftan replied in a blunt manner, took a jerky from his bag and chewed on it. After five minutes, they continued their journey again. Dark clouds began to gather above them beyond the bare, gray mountain peaks.

Feeling the wind pick up the brooding weather, Riftan hurriedly searched around the area for a place where they could shelter from the rain. As he urged the wizard to climb up the steep slope, Riftan discovered a small cave between the humongous rocks.

“At this rate, we will run out of necessities before we get to our destination.”

“If so… we’re not far from finding ourselves empty-handed then.” Ruth responded curtly, picking up his ragged breath.

“How many people do you think are climbing Ramek Mountains at such a tremendous pace? We left right away when we received the quest, even the other mercenaries who accepted this quest and left as soon as possible, would already be behind us by now. So please stop eyeing me pathetically. No other wizard in the world can stand this as long as I do!”

“If you used your energy to walk instead of talk, we would have reached our destination by now.”

Ruth opened his mouth to retaliate and disprove his statement, when a roaring sound resonated from the sky. Riftan turned his head to watch the pouring rain. It didn’t take long for the black peaks of the mountains to be filtered with white mist. Ruth sat leaning against the cave’s wall, mumbling grimly, perhaps to alleviate his nerves.

“If only I knew this would happen, I would have just followed other mercenaries and joined another quest. The hardships become sufferings and the criticisms are getting harsher…”

“I really hope you do, it’s better if you do that next time.”

Riftan muttered dryly, sitting with one leg stretched out. The rainwater quickly soaked the scrawny branches black. Ruth, who was sitting with a blanket wrapped around his body like a cocoon, suddenly opened his mouth to speak.

“Sir Calypse, why do you choose only difficult quests? Although exploring ruins and finding relics or artifacts make good money, there’s a lot of danger involved. There’s a high chance that you will encounter monsters or vexing traps. Wouldn’t it be better to participate in war battlefields like everyone does? With your skills, Sir Calypse, you will be able to make legendary contributions…”

Riftan replied, cutting off Ruth in mid-sentence. “There’s no money in wars. Catching a half-dragon will pay a lot better.”

“But people who participate in wars are more likely to get ahead. If you perform well, you might catch the eyes of nobles and become a knight…”

“I’m not interested.”

“… If you continue to live like this, you might die even before you reach forty years old.”

Ruth’s lower lip protruded whilst grunting. Riftan snorted as he watched the hazy sheet of rainfall.

“Then, I’ll have to eat more from now on while I still can if that’s just how long I will live.”

The droplets of rain grew thicker and thicker by the moment. Since most monsters despised the rain, it was fine to let their guard down for a little bit. Riftan loosened his belt and closed his eyes, intending to take the opportunity to regain energy and stamina. However, the wizard seemed unwilling to let him rest and asked in a suspicious tone.

“How old are you now?”

“Weren’t you just whining from suffering? As soon as this rain stops, we will set off right away and continue our journey. Take this opportunity to sleep.”

Ruth shut his mouth again at Riftan’s sharp voice. But as if he could not control his sudden curiosity, he continued to poke with questions.

“Are you perhaps in your mid-twenties?”

Riftan sighed. Once the guy starts asking questions, he would never leave him alone until he answered them. Better to quickly satisfy his curiosity instead.

“I’m sixteen.”

“…”

Riftan pressed the hood deeper over his head, hoping the wizard would quiet down a little bit and adjusted his position to help him rest better. At that moment, a shriek rang out.

“Sixteeeeeeen?!”

The wizard jumped to his feet in surprise, bumping his head hard against the roof of the narrow cave. Ruth eyed Riftan from head to toe like he couldn’t believe what he just heard, holding his head and rubbing the aching part, tears of pain brimming around his eyes.

Riftan glowered at him. He was aware that there wasn’t much of a boyish side to him, but Ruth’s reaction was too much, it offended him.

Riftan growled fiercely. “What’s your problem with my age?”

“Stop fooling around! Where in the world is the sixteen-year-old in that?!” The wizard squealed, eyeing Riftan’s body. “It doesn’t make sense for a sixteen-year-old to have that physique and that face. You jump on top of wyverns without blinking an eye, dive into the face of half dragons and stab them in the neck! You do all sorts of outrageous things and it has only been sixteen years since you were born?! What kind of hellish life did you live to become like this?”

“… What do you mean by that?”

The wizard trembled feeling the slight hostility in his voice, smiled awkwardly and the corner of his mouth lifted unnaturally. However, he had to say what he wanted to say, because he was a man who couldn’t ignore his curiosity. He looked into Riftan’s eyes firmly, opening his mouth to speak.

“You look like someone who has been through everything, something like a veteran of war. How can a sixteen-year-old know so much of the world’s cruelty? It just doesn’t make sense for someone so young to have that sheer power!”

“What the hell is wrong with being sixteen and looking like this!”

The wizard was silenced by his obvious irritancy and temperament. A subtle but complex expression was etched on Riftan’s face.

“Then, how old were you when you joined the mercenary corps? Since what age did you start wielding a sword? You’re already so ad…”

At that moment, without warning, a blinding flash of lightning appeared in the sky followed by a resonating thunder. Riftan immediately noticed a strange scent in the air and pushed the wizard against the ground. A huge shadow outlined against the pouring rain.

“Hey, hey… let’s talk about this! There’s no need to go this far and push me on the ground!”

“Shut up!”

An enormous monster was wandering around and began to approach them. It was so huge that it appeared like a whole hill was moving towards their direction. Seeing its bright yellow eyes gleaming and glowing in the hazy rain, Riftan realized that they had been spotted and immediately drew his sword. Only then the wizard came to know what was happening and took a defensive stance.

“I-is there any half dragon that big?”

Riftan couldn’t bring himself to answer Ruth’s evidently nervous question. Even he himself hadn’t encountered a monster that humongous in his whole life. Although it appeared similar to a half-dragon, its size was four times bigger, with black pointed scales covering its whole body and four limbs.

Could it have been mutated, or a rare, unknown species? Riftan was on the edge of his nerves. In order to defeat monsters several times stronger and larger than him, he had to have enough knowledge about it. Not only did he have to understand their strengths and weaknesses, but their tendencies and habits as well to have the upper hand.

However, he had never seen any monster like that before. He had no clue whether they were venomous or not, and where the vital or weak points were. It was difficult for him to determine as its body structure was far from that of the general dragon subspecies.

Goddamnit, I have no choice but to fight this blindly.

“Defend me from behind!”

Riftan shouted and immediately threw his hook, winding a chain around its hind leg. The monster’s nose wrinkled, and his eyes drifted to Riftan with a faint curiosity, then he lifted his leg. Riftan rolled through the mud, avoiding the monster’s long clawed paws, and released his chain to its full length. Then, he tied it with the monster’s other leg to restrain its movements and the creature staggered heavily.

However, the chains were too thin to bear the strength of the monster who was far from a wyvern’s physique. As Riftan saw the rings of the chain stretching like they would break, he did not spare a single second and unraveled his chains, leaping over the monster’s body.

He hung tightly on the back of the swaying giant creature and drove a dagger against its back, however it made nothing but a small groove against its thick skin. Riftan’s face distorted in dismay and frustration. Given the gigantic size of the monster, its skin and muscles would be much thicker in layer and sturdier than normal half-dragons.

Damn it, I can’t even have a moment to breathe and think.

Riftan climbed up the back of the raging monster like was hiking a running hill. As he skillfully moved to its head with his hook, he spotted two horns.

He grabbed one of them for balance and raised his sword. At that moment, an intense flash of electric current struck his whole body. His senses were blinded, and he felt like his body torn apart as he fell to the ground, screaming in pain.

“Sir Calypse!”

If the wizard hadn’t immediately conjured a shield, he would have been crushed under the heavy legs of the monster. Riftan barely got up from the ground, straining his twitching limbs.

He quickly searched for the monster’s weakness, gripping his sword with trembling hands. There were no scales on its belly. As soon as Riftan took notice of this, he ran towards the creature like wind. He was like a madman as he jumped under the creature and hung on one of its legs. He observed that there was a spark of electricity everywhere.

Is it controlling the lightning? Damn it, such bad luck. It’s something to run into a monster this rare.

Riftan cursed endlessly in his thoughts as he climbed its leg with a hook and swung his sword. He poked its belly and as expected, it was much more vulnerable than the other parts of its body. Riftan rammed his sword deep into the corner where its legs and stomach meet, then swung his sword to create a cut. Fortunately, it seems like he was able to cut through an artery and black blood gushed out like a waterfall.

Regardless, Riftan rammed his sword again. Then, the monster leapt, coughing up a screech that seemed to tear through the sky. The heavy impact from its movement caused Riftan to slip off its leg.

He instinctively crawled in the mud to escape the ensuing attack of the monster. However his body, which was weakened by the electric shock, did not move as quickly as he wanted it to.

Soon, the dull pain in his mind suddenly surged. Riftan screamed, suffering greatly: his knee was crushed under the monster’s heavy feet. Had he been a little late, his whole body would have been trampled on. It didn’t really occur to him to be concerned whether he would live or not and dragged his completely crushed leg to find means of escaping. But there was nowhere to hide.

This is the end, it’s over.

At that moment of crisis, a spire-shaped sharp rock soared from the ground and pierced the monster’s body. The creature opened its mouth, vomiting a high-pitched cry like it will spew out fire.

“Sir C-Calypse! Are you alright? I will heal you with magic right now…!”

Ruth, who was stunned from the shock, ran quickly to help him. Riftan shook off the man’s hand and shouted fiercely.

“What the f*ck are you still doing here?! Go and save yourself!”

The wizard was perplexed, he thought that he had completely finished the monster, but it was still growling as it breathed darkly. The creature narrowly avoided being stoked to the spine.

Riftan clasped his sword tightly with one hand. The monster rushed to them with its mouth wide open, crushing the rocks in its way, intending to swallow the men all at once. Riftan pushed Ruth enough to get him out of the way and run to escape the impact. However, with only one functioning leg, he couldn’t avoid the attack.

The monster’s sharp teeth crushed his forearm unfailingly. His bones and muscles were pulverized in a second, inciting a terrible pain to Riftan. He gritted his teeth, as blood spurted out.

If you lose control of your mind, you’re done for.

With his remaining strength, Riftan swung his sword and thrust it deep into the monster’s eye. The creature unlocked its tight jaw and raised his head, shrieking loudly.

Riftan held out with his remaining legs and arms, and climbed up the monster’s face, thrusting his sword deeply into the monster’s head with all his might. After a while, the creature stopped flailing violently and became stiff as a stone, collapsing with a loud thump.

Riftan rolled down, drained of strength. He no longer had the energy to lift even a single finger. He lay on the ground as rain poured over his mangled body. His brain was hazy, and all his senses felt paralyzed, his vision was blurred, like his pupils were submerged under water.

“Sir C-calypse…”

He heard the wizard’s urgent voice faintly, but he had nothing left in his body to create a response. He was tired and cold.

Come to think of it, I have always been. Always tired and cold…