Leaving the wagon behind was not a choice, but a necessity. As the child and his maid companion neared the Vollachian borders, the terrain had grown too treacherous for such a vehicle.
To Akigami, it was simple logic. A large wooden carriage would be impossible to navigate through a swamp, not to mention the peculiar dragon-beast pulling it would make them a conspicuous target for any witchbeasts lurking in the desolation.
Lacerta's mind, however, was elsewhere, snagged on Akigami's words from their journey. Even with time to reflect, he still couldn't articulate any other reason for his desire for strength.
It wasn't a lie. He never wanted to feel that pain again—not a physical ache, but a deep, mental anguish that tore at his heart and left him weeping. The weakness it exposed, the suffocating negativity that swelled within him… whether it was anger, wrath, or some nameless despair, it was a poison he refused to taste a second time.
But what else was there to think about? How did she even know? What other reason could possibly—
Akigami: ["We're here, Lacerta. Keep your guard up."]
Her calm voice cut through his stupor. His head snapped up, the internal turmoil instantly replaced by the oppressive environment before him.
A sprawling marshland, swallowed by a mist so dense his gaze could barely penetrate a dozen feet. They hadn't stumbled upon it suddenly. The transition had been gradual over the last twenty minutes on foot: the sky slowly vanishing behind a grey ceiling, the air growing heavy and cold. Lush green grass had surrendered to darker, waterlogged hues, the ground sucking at their boots with every step.
So this is what Haldran was talking about…
Lacerta could feel it now, a palpable wrongness in the air—a cold, lingering presence that clung to everything.
The oppressive air was a physical weight, a lingering negativity that seeped past any mundane protection. He'd suggested masks, but Akigami had dismissed the idea. This wasn't a poison to be filtered from the lungs; it was an insidious pressure on their mana, a subtle corrosion of the mind. Their own formidable power negated the worst of it, but that resilience was a resource, and it was draining. They had hours, at best, to find their way out of this mire.
Escape should have been simple. Barring some strange magic, they only had to walk in a straight line. But in a place like this, "simple" was a dangerous assumption.
Lacerta: ["———!"]
Lacerta's next step was almost his last. The muddy ground, which had seemed solid enough, dissolved beneath his boot. He was pitched forward, his leg dragged down into the cold, watery slurry as if the ground itself had turned to liquid. Instinct screamed a warning through his psyche, and his hand flew to the hilt of the longsword slung across his back.
Akigami: ["——Hm!"]
Before he could draw, a hand clamped onto his shoulder and yanked him backward. The strength in that grip was startling, and he stumbled into Akigami's firm frame just as a geyser of mud and water erupted where he'd been standing.
A reptilian maw, wide enough to crush a man's torso with ease, lunged from the murky depths.
A single, gnarled horn jutting from its brow marked it for what it was: a witchbeast.
For a terrifying instant, Lacerta saw Akigami standing directly in the beast's path, and his heart seized in belief that she was going to be eaten.
But alas...
That instant was all she needed.
A flicker of steel plunged from above, Akigami's dagger sinking to the hilt between the creature's eyes in one fell swoop. The massive body went rigid, its jaws snapping shut on empty air before it crashed, lifeless, into the churning mud.
Lacerta: ["...Ah... well then."]
With a casual grace, Akigami wrenched her dagger from the witchbeast's skull. A sharp flick of her wrist sent a spray of dark blood arcing through the air, and as she sheathed the clean blade, her other hand was already producing a second from her hip.
Akigami: ["Hmmmmm, not even a thank you?"]
Lacerta's hand finally closed on his own weapon, drawing the heavy longsword from its sheath. He gave it a few short, sharp swings to allow himself to get used to the unfamiliar shape and weight of the weapon.
Lacerta: ["...I would have been fine, you obviously just wanted to show off."]
Her smile widened as she glanced away, surveying the path ahead.
Akigami: ["You're less oblivious than you let on."]
The corpse of the slain witchbeast had barely begun its descent into the murk when Lacerta felt it. A tremor, subtle at first, pulsed through the water. Then another, and another, the ripples overlapping and widening into a chaotic lattice across the sludgy surface.
Something was moving. Somethings.
Akigami's playful demeanor vanished. Her gaze snapped toward the tree line—a jagged silhouette of crooked, half-rotted husks—and her eyes narrowed.
Lacerta: ["One would have been too easy, wouldn't it?"]
Akigami: ["Mmm... the noise... a fault on my part. Had I been quieter, we might have remained unnoticed."]
Lacerta: ["I doubt it. In a swamp this size, we were bound to attract attention."]
His words were punctuated by the sound of splintering wood and sloshing water. From multiple directions, new shapes began to resolve from the shadows. They were not the same as the first creature; these were clearly predators, higher on whatever foul food chain governed this bog.
In the direction Akigami faced, a knot of serpentine beasts slithered from the water. Each was the length of a grown man, with two heads that weaved and hissed independently, their forked tongues tasting the air.
The thing approaching Lacerta, however, was in another league entirely.
Akigami: ["I've read of that one before our departure. Lugunicans call it a 'Rock Pig.' If you need my assistance stalling it—"]
She was cut off by the sheer presence of the beast. It lumbered forward on four thick, stumpy legs that churned the mud, each step powerful enough to flatten a man. Its jet-black hide looked less like skin and more like plates of jagged obsidian, and its round, red eyes glowed with malevolent intent. The creature was immense, easily five meters long, with a cavernous mouth that looked capable of swallowing a giant whole.
A weary sigh escaped Lacerta's lips. He took a deliberate step toward the behemoth.
Lacerta: ["You underestimate me."]
A flicker of something—approval, perhaps—crossed Akigami's face. She watched the boy's small frame stand defiant before the massive beast, then turned back to her own targets with a soft hum. She raised her dagger, the razor-thin edge catching the dim light.
Akigami: ["A shame..."]
She murmured to the blade's reflection, before her gaze fixed onto the small group of double-headed serpents slithering toward her.
Akigami: ["I would have enjoyed tackling that one a bit more. But I suppose these will have to do."]