Chapter XIV: Song of the Traveler

Walking down the stairs and into the Greede Underbelly, followed closely by dozens of other adventurers, Aniya and "C" entered the first room which were filled completely with spiders.

"These are the monsters that inhabit the Underbelly?" Aniya asked C without turning around

"Yep!" C answered

"I've fought monsters like this before, so I think this is a waste of time…"

"They may look the same, but these spiders are 'different…'" the leader said as he approached from behind

"Whatever…a spider is a spider…" Aniya said as she drew her sword and walked towards the spiders

"Wait!" the leader yelled

Aniya paid the man no mind as she moved towards the spiders, however, as she got close, the spiders dispersed and quickly surrounded her. With a small smile, Aniya quickly took down one spider and then another, but this proved to be her undoing as another spider jumped on her back and clung to her tightly and as she struggled to get it off another spider hit her in the leg causing her to stumble.

"Grrrr…get…off…me!" Aniya yelled as she continued to struggle

Suddenly, several other adventurers came to her aid and quickly dispatched the surrounding spiders including the one that was one her back. While Aniya was catching her breath the leader of the group approached her.

"If you are going to be here, Demoness, you need to follow the rules…" the leader said with a stern voice

"What kind of place has 'rules' for slaying monsters?" Aniya asked skeptically

"Monsters in this place are far more 'organized' than your average monster," the leader continued, "and many a reckless adventurer has died in this place…"

To this statement the leader pointed in one of the corners of the room, which had some old, some rusted, weapons and shields stacked on top of each other.

"Those were from people who are as careless as you…"

"Hmmmm…" Aniya said in response

"He is right you know," C said as he approached, "you have to be more careful…"

"Fine…"

"Okay!" the leader shouted to the rest of the group as he walked in front of Aniya, "Let's get moving!"

Continuing down the linear path, and upon entering another room, the leader assigned a set number of adventurers to slay the monsters within, and another set to flip the lever that controlled the door, with Aniya included.

"Levers?" Aniya asked C as she walked down the narrow path along with several other adventurers

"Yeah, they are meant to keep the Underbelly safe from would-be troublemakers," C answered, "as this place connects to the Demithor's head…"

"Hey, heads up!" another adventurer shouted as they readied their weapon

Looking down the corridor Aniya noticed several Ice Lizards on the floor with a dozen spiders on the walls. To this everyone else drew their own weaponry and made quick work of the monsters, and fortunately there were no casualties among them, much to everyone's relief, except for Aniya who had her attention elsewhere.

"So, there are Ice Lizards down here too?" Aniya asked

"Yeah, they somehow find their way in here, but no one knows how they do it…" C answered with a sigh

"You seem to know a lot about this place C…"

"Well…I've been here a number of times…"

"Hmmm…" Aniya answered as she turned back to the way they came after the group threw the switch

Quickly making their way back to the main room, everyone followed the adventurer leader to the next room, which had way more monsters than previously encountered, with dozens of Ice Lizards and over a hundred spiders. As the room was very large all the monsters were spaced out. As a result, the leader ordered everyone to spread out as to prevent them from been surrounded, and subsequently eliminated.

"I've never seen so many monsters in one place before…" Aniya remarked as she got into position

"It's like this every year," C started, "and we haven't been able to stop them from showing up…"

"How long have these 'cleanings' been going on?"

"About…fifteen years…give or take."

"I wonder if Grandpa did this too…" Aniya said just barely audible

"What's that?"

"Nothing…"

Readying her sword, Aniya, along with other adventurers began to clear out the monsters in the room, however, when compared to the narrow pathway, there were some casualties. Some of the spiders had grabbed hold of some adventurers and, with their mandibles, stabbed them repeatedly until they fell dead. Others were taken down by some of the Ice Lizards when some had bitten the adventurers on the neck and punctured an artery, and then were subsequently ripped apart by the other lizards in the room, much to Aniya's horror.

"Behind you!" C shouted at Aniya who had just finished off a spider

Turning around due to C's warning, Aniya realized that half a dozen spiders had gotten behind her and, before she had a real chance to react, one of them had jumped on her. The spider had latched onto her just as the spider in the other room had done, and with one mandible had stabbed her in the side, barely missing a vital organ. Screaming in pain, and angered, Aniya pushed her back up against the wall and repeatedly slammed the spider against it causing it to lose its grip. As she got free, Aniya spun around and stabbed the spider repeatedly, killing it. However, the remaining spiders did not sit idle and were slowly approaching her.

"Are you okay!?" C shouted

"I'm getting tired of these things...!" Aniya said angrily

"Don't worry we're almost done, there's only a few more lizards and spiders!"

Nodding in C's direction, and then turning her attention back to the encroaching spiders, Aniya brought her sword up to her head and began to chant.

"What are you doing?" C asked as he finished off a lizard

Aniya did not answer C's question as she magically split her sword and created and exact copy of in her off hand, much to C's surprise.

"To think I'd use this technique so soon…" Aniya said as she proceeded to cut down the spiders one by one

When Aniya finished with the last spider, she sheathed her sword and as she did the phantom sword disappeared as well.

"Wow…" C said with eyes wide

"What?" Aniya asked sarcastically as she chugged a healing potion

"I've never seen an ability like that before…"

"I've learned it recently," Aniya answered as she threw aside the empty bottle, "but it's nothing special…"

"Uh-huh…"

As the two conversed, the remaining adventurers finished off the final monsters and took count of their own casualties.

"Hmmm, so we lost four adventurers…" the leader said aloud, but to no one in particular, "…well within projections…"

"'Projections!?'" Aniya thought to herself angrily

"Alright! We're moving forward!" the leader shouted, "If you can keep going follow me, otherwise stay here and recuperate!"

"Hold on!" Aniya yelled as she approached the leader

"What is it girl?" the leader said not turning around

"What did you mean by projections? Don't you care that some of the other adventurers died?"

"They knew the risks in coming down here…" the leader said as he started to walk away

"Wait!" Aniya said as she grabbed the leader's arm, "How can you be so heartless!?"

Shrugging off Aniya's grip, and turning to her the leader began to speak in a very serious voice.

"As an adventurer you should always be prepared to perish on a quest!" the leader started, "Like I said, they knew the risks coming down here, and despite what you may think I actually do care!"

"Then why don't you-"

"Because there isn't time for grieving! We have a job to do, and we are probably going to lose more people before this is over!" the leader said interrupting Aniya's question and turned away

"Hey…" C said as he came from behind and put a hand on Aniya's shoulder

"Just who is that guy?" Aniya asked C angrily while staring at the man who was walking away

"His name is Jai," C answered, "and he is the highest ranked adventurer in the world, as far as anyone knows."

"So that makes him gold ranked or something like that?"

"Higher than that actually…" another adventurer said as they approached C and Aniya

"Huh?" Aniya said as she turned to the adventurer

"He is platinum ranked."

"I've never heard of that rank before…"

"It's not a rank that one obtains through normal means," the adventurer continued, "you have to do something 'special,' and the guild has to recognize it."

"I see…"

"Hey," C said getting Aniya's attention, "let's get moving."

"Right…" Aniya replied as she followed C

As Aniya was walking she took a look around the room and saw the bodies of the four adventurers that had fallen, and saw that there was one adventurer in particular who was making notes of who had fallen and took their guild cards. When Aniya caught up to Jai and the other adventurers, she noticed that they were waiting for something, but did not know what.

"Through here," Jai began explaining, "is the 'lair' of the golem, and as I said before we were instructed not to engage it."

"But…this is the only way forward, so how are we-" another adventurer began to ask

"I was getting to that…" Jai said interrupting, "…we are to form groups of ten and run past it as fast as we can."

"Hey C," Aniya asked quietly, "why can't we fight the golem? Can't they just repair it afterward?"

"Well, it's because the golem is indestructible…"

To this statement Aniya's eyes narrowed in C's direction, indicating that she did not believe what he just said, and instead turned her eyes back to Jai who was setting up the groups. When Jai approached her, he informed both C and Aniya that they would be in the second to last group to go in, and he himself would be the in the last. With a small nod, Aniya, C and the rest of the group lined up in front of the door behind the others.

"One last thing before we begin," Jai said as he put his hand on the door, "no matter what happens, or what you hear, you keep running…"

With a nod from all adventurer's present, including Aniya, Jai swung the door open and the first group went through. After a few minutes, the second group followed suit, and this continued until Aniya's group. However, as she approached the door, she faintly heard people screaming, and as she turned to Jai, he immediately shook his head.

"No…" Jai said softly

Shortly after the screams stopped, and Jai opened the door again, signaling Aniya's turn to run through. As Aniya stepped through, she witnessed the carnage that had been going on behind the door: there were bodies everywhere, along with blood soaking the stones. The sight of this caused Aniya to gag, including some of the other adventurers, and as she looked around she saw that the golem was not the only thing in the room as there were spiders and Ice Lizards, with some of them feasting of the remains of some of the adventurers that went through beforehand.

"God…" Aniya said out loud

"Let's go…" C said as he and the other adventurers readied themselves to run

Following suit, Aniya readied herself as well, and after a short count from C the group ran as fast as they could through the room. However, not all in the group ran at the same speed as some began to trail behind, and quickly became victims of the monsters.

"W-wait!" one adventurer screamed

"H-Help!" screamed another adventurer

The remaining adventurers, Aniya included, followed Jai's advice and kept running, much to their inner chagrin. As they reached the door on the far side of the room, Aniya immediately turned around to see what was happening behind her and saw there were some adventurers still alive.

"Go ahead without me C…" Aniya said in a calm but serious voice

"What?" C replied confused

Aniya drew her sword and had begun to run in the direction of the monsters, despite being outnumbered 30-to-1, not including the golem itself.

"Wait! Stop!" C yelled

However, Aniya did not seem to hear him as she ran to the nearest adventurer in need and quickly slew a lizard that was attacking them. Afterward, Aniya told the same adventurer to run and they did as they were told without a second thought, then Aniya moved to the next monster. However, before she could help the next adventurer they were, quite literally, crushed by the golem, much to her shock, and the remaining ones were killed by other monsters in the room.

"Damn it!" Aniya screamed in her head as she clenched her teeth in anger

Rage began to well up inside of Aniya, but seeing as she could do nothing more she began to move back towards C and the others. However, the monsters were following her as there were no other prey in the area and Jai's group had yet to come through, thus she decided to turn around again in order to distract the monsters.

"Hold on!" C yelled, "I'm coming to help you!"

"Stay there!" Aniya yelled back as she moved towards the monsters, and then thought to herself "Now…which ones are first…?"

Aniya then quickly moved to one of the spiders and quickly killed it, and then moved onto another and then another. However, before she could kill a fourth spider one of the arms of the golem swung in her direction, but she was able to dodge at the last second. Despite its size, the golem moved at a relatively fast speed and it didn't help that Aniya had to dodge the monsters as well.

"Almost killed all the spiders…" Aniya thought as she killed another spider, "…the lizards are next…"

Just as she was thinking of the beasts Aniya was immediately struck by one of the Ice Lizard's tails sending her into a wall near C and the others. This was followed up by several other lizards repeating what the previous one had just done, and each time Aniya was struck she hit the wall until she was coughing up blood. However, just as C and the others though she was done for one of the tails of the lizards flew in their direction, but it was not the tailless lizard that caught their attention but Aniya's whose eyes had become hollow.

"Die…" Aniya said just above hearing

Aniya then immediately lunged at the lizard whose tail she cut off, and disemboweled the creature with extreme speed, and then immediately turned to another lizard and repeated the process several times after. This caused the remaining monsters to backpedal away from Aniya as she began to approach them.

"This…is 'The Demoness'…?" C said with fear in his voice

"I've…heard stories…" another adventurer began, "…but it's even more terrifying in person…"

Just as C and the adventurer finished talking, Aniya, who barely managed to get her guard up, was struck by the golem and was sent flying across the room. However, Aniya immediately rebounded and rushed at the golem who then attempted another strike but was dodged easily. Aniya then attempted to attack the golem with her sword, but it immediately broke against the golem's stone body. Looking around quickly, Aniya grabbed another weapon that was laying next to the body of a dead adventurer, this time the weapon being a mace.

"Now!" Aniya thought to herself as she smiled slightly

Rushing the golem again Aniya focused her attack on one of the golem's leg joints, and as she did, she heard a cracking noise, albeit barely audible. Repeating the strike, Aniya caused the golem to stumble and fall, but before she could attack again the golem swatted her away as if she were a fly and caused her to lose her weapon again.

"Stubborn, aren't we?"

Looking around again, Aniya grabbed a greatsword near another dead adventurer, but before she could run at the golem it recovered and launched one of its arms at Aniya, who barely managed to get out of the way in time. Quickly recovering its arm, the golem launched it again at Aniya who dodged it yet again and rushed the golem, swinging the greatsword at the same spot where she hit it previously causing it to stumble again, however it did not fall as it did previously. Recovering its arm yet again, the golem swung down at Aniya who dodged again and quickly jumped on its arm and then jumped high enough to be eye level with it.

"Die!" Aniya yelled as she swung the sword

With all her strength behind the swing Aniya hit the Golem's head, seemingly stunning it for a few seconds. Repeating the process, Aniya hit the Golem's head again but in the other direction and caused it to fly across the room and the Golem's body fell to the ground.

"W-wow…she did it…" the adventurer next to C said

"No, she didn't. It's not over yet…" C said grimly

As Aniya passed the downed Golem, feeling as she was victorious, and as if on cue, the Golem's headless body sat up and immediately swung at Aniya knocking her into the wall near C.

"W-what…?" Aniya said barely after coughing up some blood

Although she was looking at the Golem with blurred vision, Aniya could make out the Golem's shape along with a small glow in its chest area. During this the Golem's head rolled towards it and immediately rose into the air and back down to where it sat previously, in addition the leg joint where Aniya hit it earlier glowed slightly. As the glow faded Aniya noticed, albeit barely, there was a large crack in the Golem's chest area that did not seem to repair.

"Aniya, come on!" C pleaded, "You can't win!"

"No…" Aniya answered in a cold tone

Running at the Golem again, with as much speed as she could in her weakened state, Aniya struck the Golem's chest at where she last saw the glowing crack, however, just like her sword earlier and due to the attack on its head, the Greatsword she was using broke against the Golem's body leaving only a small amount of the blade remaining, but seemed to widen the crack. This attempt seemed to stun the Golem again as it did when Aniya struck its head, and, taking advantage of this, she ran at the Golem again broken sword in hand.

"What are you doing, Demoness!?" Jai yelled as he finally opened the door

Aniya did not answer as she lept at the Golem's chest area, and, with as much strength as she could muster, plunged the sword into the crack in its chest and attempted to widened it so she could see inside. During this, the Golem seemed to be stuck in a perpetually stunned state unable to move. Opening the Golem's chest finally, but ruining what was left of the sword, Aniya saw a light blue light in its center, and as she attempted to touch it the light began to burn her hand.

"S-so…h-hot…" Aniya thought to herself

Undeterred, Aniya reached further until she could touch something that felt like sleek like an orb, and not willing to think it over, Aniya grabbed whatever it was and began to pull as hard as she could. However, this caused the Golem to become active again, but began to behave erratically as it swung wildly in all directions, seemingly attempting to force Aniya off it. Still undeterred, Aniya reached in with her other hand and pulled harder until it began to give way slightly, however as it did the Golem, gaining some of it's sentience back, grabbed her and pulled it away from it's chest. Fortunately, the grab was what she needed to dislodge the object she was pulling on, and immediately afterward the Golem fell to the ground motionless, with Aniya still in its grip.

"I-I…don't…believe it…" C said stupefied

"W-what did she do?" the adventurer asked

"I think…she removed its core…"

"Core?"

"Yes…"

"You seem to know a lot about the Golem young one…" Jai said as he walked up, "…who are you really?"

"Heh, I've just done my homework, that's all!" C said snidely

To this comment Jai simply turned around towards Aniya, who was being pried out of the Golem's hand. As she got up Aniya also held up what she took out of the Golem that lost its glow, and had wires protruding from it, and had a sizeable crack near the middle. However, the exhaustion hit her all at once and she fell to the ground much to the worry of C.

"You okay?" C said as he rushed to Aniya's side

"I'm…fine…" Aniya said slowly between breaths, "…nothing a potion, or ten, won't cure…"

"You wait here Demoness," Jai said finally after turning toward the next area, "the rest of you follow me!"

"No…" Aniya said as she struggled to her feet, "I'm coming too…!"

"You would only be a burden…" Jai said coldly

"Damn you!"

Immediately afterward Aniya grabbed the remaining potions she had in her pouch and chugged them one after the other, healing a vast majority of the wounds she suffered.

"Listen, Demoness, you should listen to him…" C said pleadingly

"I'm not going to let you treat me like I'm some 'burden,' or some 'throwaway!'"

Turning halfway to Aniya again, Jai seemingly relented as he simply huffed and started walking away and did not stop Aniya from following. Taking another look at Aniya's eyes, C seemed to notice that they went back to their normal state, although still trembled at what she was like in that state he saw.

…

~Present Day~

…

Opening her eyes again, Aniya found herself looking at the ceiling of a tent, then immediately sat up and found Eldore, and Leonard staring at her.

"W-where…?" Aniya said as she rubbed her head

"We are in the Frass Chasm…" Eldore replied, albeit in a very cold tone

"Wait!" Aniya said suddenly, as she remembered what happened, and then said in an angry tone, "Where is he!?"

"Gone…" Leonard answered

Quickly standing up, and after taking several steps forward, Aniya found that he legs would not move and nor would the rest of her body, apart from her head. Looking at Eldore, Aniya noticed he had a hand pointed at her, and was glowing slightly.

"W-what…is this…?" Aniya said while struggling

"Bind magic…" Eldore replied again in his cold tone

"Hetold us something to tell you just before he left," Leonard started, "'Get stronger if you want to face me.'"

"What?" Aniya said in a puzzled voice

"I don't know what he did to you Aniya, but now isn't the time for petty squabbles like what you pulled!"

"…Petty? Petty!?"

"We already have a task ahead of us and we can't afford to be sidetracked!"

"That man…needs to die!" Aniya said in an increasingly angry voice

"That has to wait…"

"No! It has to happen now!"

Despite trying as hard as she could not break free from Eldore's spell, and after a short period seemed to calm down. Seeing this Eldore dropped his hand and Aniya's freedom of movement was restored to normal.

"Listen Aniya," Eldore started, "I know you have a past with that man, but you are no match for him as you are now. He'll kill you if you try again…"

To this Aniya merely growled and dropped her shoulders, but tears began to well in her eyes. To this, Eldore and Leonard assumed that she was upset, and would get over it in time.

"In the meantime," Leonard started again, "can you go take over for Caesar? I think you had enough rest…"

"Fine…" Aniya said coldly and grabbed her sword

"Yulie is looking around, and will be back soon as well," Eldore added, "so you two can share the shift."

"Alone? Isn't it supposed to be dangerous here?"

"She'll be fine, as we told her to run back here at the first case of trouble"

After hearing this Aniya walked through the tents entrance and found Kara on top of Caesar with a sword at his throat.

"O-oh, hey!" Caesar said in his normal tone

"What's going on here?" Aniya said in a cautious tone

"Nothing! Right?" Caesar said to Kara

To this Kara simply nodded her head to the question and put her sword away.

"I see…" Aniya said as she walked over to the campfire, "…I'm taking over, so you both can rest…"

"Got it! Let's get some rest, shall we?" Caesar replied while looking at Kara

Kara simply scoffed at this remark and walked over to another tent, while Caesar went into the tent with Leonard and Eldore. Sitting down at the fire, Aniya stared intensely at it and recalled the fight with The Devil. Taking in a deep breath, Aniya began to hum a tune and at certain intervals sang some words.

"…angels open wide, aria…" Aniya sang, "…arise…the journey's begun…"

"Aniya?" came Yulie's voice from behind

Instinctively, Aniya stood up and put her hand on her sword as she turned around to face Yulie. Shocked by this action, Yulie took a step back and put her hands in the air and dropped what appeared to be some fruit.

"Oh…it's just you, Yulie…" Aniya said as she took her hand away from her sword

"Sorry for startling you…" Yulie said as she picked up the items she dropped

"It's fine…"

Afterward, Yulie sat across from the Aniya at the campfire, and seemed to observe Aniya's stare into the fire, however Aniya did not hum the tune out loud again, but rather kept it in her head.

"Uh, um…" Yulie attempted to speak

"What is it?" Aniya said not taking her eyes from the fire

"I found these a little ways away," Yulie said holding out some of the fruit, "want to try?"

"No…"

"Oh, okay…" Yulie said dropping her arm

Going back to the silence, time seemed to be ticking away slowly and Yulie appeared to be getting restless.

"Hey, Aniya?" Yulie asked slowly

"Yes?"

"I heard you humming a little while ago, was that a song?"

Taking her eyes away from the fire, Aniya looked at Yulie and gave a gentle nod.

"What song?" Yulie said with increasing glee

"…It's called 'The Travelers'" Aniya started, "but I don't know all of the words…"

"It sounded pretty"

"It helps me…calm down when I am agitated…"

"Ah…I see…" Yulie said while returning to her original tone, "…why'd you stop?"

"…I don't do it in front of others…"

"Oh…"

For the remainder of their time together Aniya and Yulie sat in complete silence, with Aniya returning her eyes to the fire. However, after a period of time Aniya suddenly got up and walked a short distance away and drew her longsword and got into a fighting stance

"What are you doing?" Yulie asked curiously

"…Training…" Aniya replied

Aniya began to swing her sword in various ways, learning from the fight she had with The Devil along with the training she got from Dels. After a time, and feeling that she trained enough, Aniya returned to the fire and went back into staring into the flames.

"Yulie…" Aniya asked after a time

"Yes?"

"Where did these tents come from? We didn't have them when we left Balandor."

"Oh, we got them after your fight with that man…"

"I see. I did give the money to Leonard after all…"

"Um, Aniya?" Yulie said cautiously, "About that man they called 'The Devil'…"

"What about him?"

"…Never mind…"

…

~PRESENT~

…

"And that is when our relationship together truly started to deteriorate" Aniya said

"Why did you not just tell us?" Yulie asked

"…Would you have even cared back then…?" Aniya replied after giving a cold glare

"Of course we would have!" Leonard said bordering on yelling

"Huh, would you?" Aniya said sarcastically as she turned her gaze to Leonard

"Um, aren't you all supposed to be friends though," Penelope said sheepishly, "I mean after all you have been through together…"

"No, not friends…more along the lines of companions. It's not the same…"

"Oh…"

The room fell into a deep silence once again, as everyone had their own thoughts at that instance.

"Caesar," Eldore said breaking the silence, "I take it that 'C' was you?"

"Yeah, it was" Caesar answered

"Didn't you know then? Particularly with your Dragon Sight?"

"Actually," Caesar started, "just like you, I couldn't actually see Aniya's past…and she didn't tell me back then…"

"There is a reason for that too…" Aniya interrupted

"What reason…?" Kara asked

Aniya did not answer Kara's question, and instead continued where she left off in her story.

…

~PAST~

…

When the sun had finally risen on the next day, both Yulie and Aniya went to go wake up the rest of the group and began to take down the tents. When the light from the rising sun had fully filled the valley Aniya could make out an orange colored mist near the bottom of the ravine.

"What is that?" Aniya asked

"That was from one of the Greavers," Eldore started to explain, "they are native to this area, according to that man you paid yesterday."

"We also caught a glimpse of the Windwalkers too!" Yulie said with delight, "They were incredible!"

"Huh…" Aniya said narrowed eyes

"When we went to go buy the tents, we heard they sell that mist from the Greavers, but it's highly poisonous unrefined so we had to stop for the night…"

"Makes sense…"

"Let's get moving," Leonard commanded to everyone, "we only have two days left to make it to Thaumus Rock, and we have a long way to go."

"Got it!" Everyone said in unison

With Aniya carrying one of the tent bags, and Caesar carrying the other, the group was down two fighters as traversed the Chasm due to their weight. However, the group did not run into any problematic monsters as all that stood in their way were spiders.

"Are you okay with that Aniya?" Yulie asked worriedly

"I'm fine…" Aniya said straitening the pack

"H-help! Someone!" came a voice further down the path

"What was that!?" Caesar said dropping his pack and running in the direction of the voice

"Caesar, wait!" Eldore shouted

Caesar did not listen to Eldore's command as he kept running, with the rest of the group not far behind. As the group reached the source of the voice, they found a papitaur on a ledge under attack by a monster with a rock-hard shell.

"What is that?" Aniya asked with wide eyes

"That is a Greaver. Although much smaller than the one we saw yesterday…" Eldore answered

Seeing as the Greaver was mere seconds from devouring the papitaur, both Caesar and Leonard both transformed into their respective Knight forms and began battle with the creature. However, Caesar's spear seemed to be the only weapon between him and Leonard that caused damage to the creature, as it pierced its shell, and into its flesh. After a long fight, both Leonard and Caesar knocked the creature down, seemingly killing it, and reverted from their Knight forms. Suddenly, the ground beneath the group began to shake and the ledge began to crumble away, taking the Greaver with it, however the creature was not fully dead as it grabbed Caesar with one of its tendrils taking him with it, much to everyone's horror.

"Caesar, no!" Yulie screamed helplessly

Suddenly the Black Knight appear from the ravine with Caesar in his hands and placed him gently next to Leonard the rest of the group, and abruptly flew away without so much as a word.

"W-why did Dragias save you?" Yulie asked puzzled, "Wouldn't it be better for them to have let you die here?"

"Huh…who knows?" Caesar answered as he looked at Kara who approached from behind the rest of the group, "More importantly…"

"Ah, yes," Eldore added, "the little one you two saved…"

"So, are you okay? You almost got eaten…" Aniya said with a chuckle

"That's what they all say…" the papitaur started, "'Rocco didn't you fall off a cliff?' or 'Rocco didn't you get eaten?', and so on…"

"So, Rocco's your name, huh?" Leonard asked

"Yeah, thanks for saving me!" Rocco said with a smile

"What will you do now?" Caesar asked

"I've got some errands to run," Rocco said as he started walking away, "thanks again for saving me!"

"Hmph, shall we get moving?" Kara said abruptly

"Yeah, let's continue…" Eldore answered although in a cautious tone in Kara's direction

After continuing down the path a ways, and killing any monsters in their path, the group came across a wooden bridge, and on the other side particular wooden totems.

"What are those?" Yulie asked

"Oh, no…" Eldore said shocked, "…we need to find another way around!"

"Too late, nincompoops!" came the voice somewhere above the group

"'Nincompoops?'" Aniya thought to herself as she looked up

Much to the groups shock, they were surrounded by papitaurs on the high cliffs, and without any further warning several nets were dropped on top of them.

T/N: I never knew writing out a fight in a fanfiction was this hard. I had over 30 (not kidding) directions I had that fight go in. Funny how writing works…

Again, reviews are ALWAYS appreciated, it lets me know how good and/or bad I am doing while writing this…