The green-haired man dodged backwards as he threw a blade of wind towards the thresher. For some reason, he fought without a sword.
'Didn't he have one the last time we met… if he's the person I'm thinking about, of course.'
Nevertheless, Quies began rapidly approaching the last remaining thresher. The other thresher's body laid motionless behind it, a stream of blood gushing from a perforation in its skull.
'Now hold on…'
Quies paused, slowing himself to a halt. He had an idea.
His ether reserve was still somewhat full despite his earlier usage of his blood beam and, now, his crimson blade. After meditating and training with his bloodrend for however long he had been down here for, using Flow doesn't take the same toll on his mind as it used to. His mind, body, and soul had been tempered.
So, he raised his crimson blade forward, ahead of him. Its tip pointed in the direction of the dead thresher. His eyes narrowed as he began to focus on the flowing blood of the thresher.
"Hey!" He called out to the green-haired man.
Upon hearing the sudden voice from his side, the man gave Quies a momentary glance, acknowledging his statement.
"Watch out!" Quies reciprocated upon having caught his attention.
The man paused for a second, confused by the unexpected warning. However, just a moment later, he would see why Quies had given him one in the first place.
With a wide stroke—blade gliding on layers of air—Quies swung his sword to the side. As he did, the blood of the dead thresher began to follow his will, manifesting into a handful of crimson spikes that pierced the hide of the remaining thresher from behind.
At the same time, he could feel a sharp pain penetrate the back of his mind—as if someone had driven a dull blade into the back of his skull. It seemed that, even with his advanced mastery over Flow, he still had limits. Fortunately for Quies, though, the pain dissipated the moment his focus retreated from the fallen thresher's blood.
Both of the threshers were dead now, laying motionless on the blue-hued dunes beneath.
And, of course, there was the green-haired man. He turned to Quies slowly, his feet shifting the sand beneath him. Quies continued approaching, hands trembling due to the great amount of ether he consumed in such a short span of time.
"H-hey, I'm not here to fight you!" He spoke, voice slightly wavered, to break the tension.
"Neither am I."
Quies responded coldly. As got closer, step by step, he began to recall his crimson blade, absorbing it back into his body. The hues of the world seemed to deepen ever so slightly as he regained his blood.
"Wait."
Quies paused upon hearing the green-haired man speak.
"Are you…" The green-haired man asked, unsure of his own words.
"That Bloodrender?" Quies finished.
"You remember?"
"Sort of, do you?"
"My memory's rather foggy… but I do, for the most part."
The green-haired man tensed his right hand, as if gripping for a sword which didn't exist. Nevertheless, Quies continued approaching, speaking in a controlled manner.
"You said you owe me a favor."
The green-haired man raised an eyebrow for a moment before relaxing the next. However, he didn't respond, prompting Quies to pause in the middle of his step. There was silence before, eventually, Quies spoke once more.
"Where's the rest of them?"
This time, he responded.
"They're close, somewhat."
Not long after the green-haired man's response, the two began to walk in unison, with Quies lagging behind just a few steps. The thick smell of reptilian blood fouled the already tense air between the two.
Quies, in truth, had mixed feelings about this group of adventurers. Back in Erisia, he had, for the most part, a neutrally positive interaction with them. He could remember… ah, how many were there?
'There's this guy, there's the other two… One of them is, who was it, Eris? No…'
However, here, in the depths, Quies saw them as more than just a group of adventurers. He saw them as hope—a possible chance to freedom.
'They must know a way to escape. If I remember correctly, the guild they were a part of had a lot of knowledge about, well, anything. If they had information on the Forge of Sin, they must have at least a little information on the depths, information that would be extremely helpful. Depths, they probably have a few retired divers like Valerie depending on how large and established it is!'
Busy within his enclosure of thought, Quies didn't even notice the presence of the other group members as the green-haired man crested a hill.
"Abel!"
Quies shook away his thoughts and looked at where the sound had come from. From the top of the small hill, he saw two members of the cohort—prompting a chain of recognition in his mind.
It was safe to say that the two weren't in the best shape.
In fact, the hazel haired woman, Eris-
"Elis! I'm fine!"
'Right, it was Elis.'
From that small exchange of words, Quies also inferred that the green-haired man's name was Abel. Alongside her, he saw a blue-skinned man with golden markings around his eyes. He was the one who had heritage from the Central Authority, if he remembered correctly.
'Abel, Elis… I still need to figure out that guy's name.'
All in all, there were three of them, just like he had remembered.
The two cohort members were drenched in blood, though it seemed the Authority guy was more injured. His face was sullen, the blood on his skin and light-armor a mix of bright red and dark crimson.
However, that wasn't to say Elis was completely fine. From this distance, it looked like she was struggling to take a breath.
Quies and Abel began to walk towards the cohort, approaching them from the top of the hill. However, a very subtle sound caught Quies' attention. However, the cohort members seemed to pay it no mind.
"Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmmmm…"
"Do you hear that?" Quies asked Abel.
"Hear what?"
"hmm, hmm, hmmmm…."
"The humming."
"What? Where?"
"Hm-hm hmmmm…. Hmmmm…."
'It's coming from around that bend behind the cliff…'
The song he hummed was rather soothing, though. Quies relaxed a little, but was still tense.
'Is it a monster? Something only I can see?'
Theories and hypotheses began to form in Quies' withering mind. There had only been three of them, only three.
Three.
All of them were in his sight, and the sound seemed to come from afar—in a completely different direction from where Elis and the Authority guy were.
And then, he saw him.
A pale man revealed himself from behind the bend, his utterly spotless mantle swaying lightly from a nonexistent wind. His eyes, a deep well of ink, were staring at Quies well before he had revealed himself from the cover of the cliff face.
An unexplainable feeling of dread washed over his soul. His eyes widened, and his walk froze. Quies wanted to look away…
But he couldn't.
It was as if a force—a will—held his gaze still, even from afar.
'Hold on… why… Why am I so scared in the first place?'
Quies relaxed his tense body. His eyes, once wide, now returned to their loose, sullen state. His heart slowed its pace, his mind began to ease.
He knew this person, after all.
His name was Red.
"Are you… are you okay?"
Quies looked to his right, where Abel stood with a worried face. Considering his earlier, sudden reaction, he could see why the green-haired man was worried.
"No, nothing. I was just… shocked for a moment, that's all."
Right, he was simply shocked for just a moment. He… he just had a hard time remembering what had happened the last time he and the cohort met.
There were four of them—four members of the cohort—the last time he remembered.
Yes, four.
Just four.