Review response:

Clever Dan: I'm glad you like it, your stories are good yourself.

Nightfire: Thanks, and here's the next chapter.

BlacknessChaos: It doesn't change much, but it will make quite a difference.

Damned Angel of the Dying Light: This is a spoiler if you haven't done the side quest, but Yuan was originally engaged to Martel 4,000 years ago.

Chapter 10: Ruin challenge

Outside of Triet ruin

Even the surroundings gave me the creeps. It was kind of old, but not that much. It didn't show that it was new either. I felt Yuan's grip tighten as I saw Mithos whisper something to him. I knew that Mithos had done something to rage Yuan or something. He had some kind of major grudge against him as of when he had found out that Martel and he were engaged. He did put up a weird attitude that day, so I am assuming it was all only because of the engagemnt. This kind of worried me. Mithos might go further than intended due to this. Maybe, he'd hurt Yuan somehow when no one was around.

No, I shouldn't think that. I shook my head as Yuan looked at me for fidgetting in his grip. That must've made it harder for him to hold me. Even if Mithos did try to hurt Yuan, he would defeat him before he was able, since Yuan after all, was older, more built than the one of Mithos' slender body and such. But I think Mithos was more advanced on magic than Yuan, since he used extremely powerful ones against the monsters, and I was surprised by such power.

"This is Triet ruin... want to go inside?" Martel asked as Mithos shrugged.

"As long as somebody is able to protect you." I saw him glare at Yuan, whose grip tightened again.

"Alright, let's go."

Triet ruin

The seal of the entrance hadn't opened. But somehow, we managed to open it with Martel's help. I was facing the are where everyones back was turned, because of the position I was in, so I couldn't see what Martel did. All I heard was Mithos thanking her about the seal or something. But as we traveled, I get creeped out even more. It was dark. I hated the darkness. It simply reminded me back of the labatory. But then we came across something that was ahead of us. It was red, and well, shaped like a chest. Because it was a chest.

"Should we open it? I mean, I read about these monsters the other day where their appearances were of a chest like this one." Mithos hesitated as Martel approached it.

"If it is a monster, we can fight it off, right?" I saw Martel turn to Kratos.

"They are supposedly weak against physical attacks." Kratos really was quite intelligent with these kind of things.

Finally, Martel agreed to open it and see if it was a monster. But before her hand even touched it, and was about an inch away, the thing jumped. Literally. And it scared me so much to death that I practically jumped in Yuan's grasp. Mithos tried to stiffle a giggle by my reaction. I turned scarlet. It wasn't exactly my day so far, considering I hadn't gotten any sleep yesterday, due to the destroyed property.

Battle

I heard a clanging of a sword coming from nearby. It was Kratos, who had slammed his double-edged sword down onto the creature. It made a weird gawking noise as it approached Martel, and Mithos got in front of her. He casted 'Fire Ball', but it barely did anything. It continued to charge towards Martel. Yuan couldn't do anything, because he was holding me. I regretted that as the chest jumped at Martel, literally biting her on the right arm as the lid snapped onto it. Martel winced in pain as Mithos gritted his teeth. Kratos shook it off by swiftly swinging his sword beside it, pushing it off.

"First aid!" With Martel's spell, the wound on her arm almost vanished, but the cloth of the right arm part was still ripped up.

"Sonic rain!" I heard Mithos shout out as he continously pressed the sword onto the monster.

By the way Mithos body was set, it seemed that he was also a skilled swordsman. I watched him slash at the monster as the chest backed away. He seemed to be skilled, but not have much strength to do much. I guess this was why Mithso used magic more often other than swordsmanship skills. I did notice that Mithos favored magic more than the sword. Kratos used 'Demon Fang' on the chest, and it finally fell to the ground, still. I assumed it was a goner, and it was.

Triet ruin

"That was quite troublesome." Martel said with a sigh as I watched Yuan step up forward.

"I am sorry that I wasn't able to help." I saw Mithos' eyes pierce through at Yuan.

"See, I told you that you couldn't protect her when you can't even protect yourself." Now I knew that Mithos had whispered to Yuan as the man holding me tightened his grip once more.

Triet ruin-A few minutes later

Later on, Martel had finally shushed Mithos from gawking at Yuan. We found some items in a several chests, which thankfully wasn't actually a monster. But we did encounter several monsters, and they were quite powerful, since they kind of matched up to Mithos. That was mostly because Mithos needed time to chant for the spell, and they dind't give him any at all, forcing him to attack with the sword. But still, the young one of the Yggdrasils was quite skilled with physcial combat also. But I was relived as I heard Martel say something that sang in my ears.

"I think we explored just about everything. Why not leave for now?" I nodded at what Martel had said rather quickly.

Triet desert

I was actually glad that we left the ruins. The ruins had an weird presence to it. It made my senses tingle with caution, which I wasn't used to. But as I snapped out of my thoughts, I finally noticed something that made me forget everything around me, including my thirstiness and I was turning even more scarlet every second of the moment. I was clinging on Yuan's sleeves extremely tightly with Mithos glaring at me.

Next chapter

Body Host Number 876407: Alright, we somehow end up in Iselia, and the villagers are giving me a weird look. But there's something odd about the Iselia forest...

Body Host Number 876407: Find out next on Chapter 11: Reunited.