Jack jumped back out of the shadows and immediately plopped to the ground. His breath was shaky, and he was drenched in sweat.
That... was... not half bad, actually. Moving at such a speed thrilled him. Now, if only he'd been able to control the beast. The boy sat up and calmed himself down.
"Hmm?"
He noticed he wasn't hurt by the fall and instantly realized why.
"Looks like I could already do it," he thought excitedly, "teacher was right, as always."
The boy turned around to see the big cow(?) try to unstuck itself. He saw small pebbles fall down as the beast shook itself, trying to get free to no avail. He sighed in relief.
He heard a sound behind him and instantly rose into a defensive position. His teacher made sure he be ready at any time by attacking him in his sleep. He shuddered remembering the first time she did it.
"Who's there!? Show yourself!"
Seeing the boy warily facing them, Urdan signalled both women to stand down. No matter what past grudges the races had in the past, now was not the time. Especially if the other party was only a boy, and one that the spirits foretold.
Ledwen floated down beside him. Poedan reluctantly lowered her crossbow, but kept it in hand just to make sure.
The blond elf then said in somewhat decent human tongue, "Worry not, human. Us elves just want to talk with you."
Elves? Jack had heard about elves when he was younger. He thought of them as the grandpa race. His teacher had briefly talked about elves. She said their beauty was unmatched compared to the other races.
Jack tilted his head. Sure enough, they were pretty. But he concluded that even they couldn't compare to his teacher.
"What do you want to talk about, mister?"
Hearing the boy comply so easily made Urdan a bit uncomfortable.
He needed to ask about the other part of the clue. It was clear now that the first part of the first three tenses meant this boy. That meant he was tied to something or someone else. That meant, depending on how they interacted with him, they might get different reactions from the one from the second part.
He asked cautiously, "Are you with anyone right now?"
Hearing that question, Jack instantly became alert. The sisters in the orphanage told him and the others that if someone shady tried to lure them or ask if they were alone, they should scream, "Get away from me, pervert! Pervert!"
And so, he did just that.
Urdan choked on his spit, while Ledwen let out a wheeze. Poedan, being the only one unable to understand human tongue looked confusedly at her teammates.
"No, nonononono! Please stop! I didn't mean it like that!" Now visibly panicking, the man vehemently denied the accusation.
"We just heard from someone that you might be accompanied by another person," he tried to reason.
To that, Jack narrowed his eyes and said, "Oh yeah? Well, who is this person that told you?"
Having someone spying at them was never a good sign. He had to warn teacher Rimuru about this.
Realizing that the boy got the wrong idea again, Urdan mentally facepalmed.
He suddenly heard a gasp from his brunette companion. He looked over to her to see her face almost in shock.
"The spirits... they're surrounding him, as if protecting him," Ledwen explained.
Poedan looked skeptically at the apprentice. Meanwhile, Urdan asked, "Is he chosen?"
Chosen was a term for people who were allowed by the spirits to see and converse with them. Nobody knew the exact requirements; it was believed that the spirits had their own way of choosing.
Ledwen shook her head and answered, "It would appear not to be the case. They aren't trying to talk to him, and he doesn't seem to notice them."
"Then, what's going on?"
Ledwen replied with equal confusion, "I don't know. My only guess is that we are right about him being part of the clue."
"Hey! Stop speaking gibberish! I'm not done talking to you," Jack taunted the three.
This was something he'd been learning from his teacher by observing her. He saw that she'd try to rile up anyone who opposed her. He didn't really understand, but thought it was one of her battle tactics. So, he emulated it too.
All of a sudden, all four of them heard cracks from behind the boy. They all looked towards the kiloffalo that was still moving around. The cliffs on either side began shaking and crumbling as the beast shook.
They then came crumbling down. The four quickly escaped from being buried along with the kiloffalo.
"..phew. That was close," Jack sighed in relief.
Suddenly, they heard buzzing noises from the once cliffed archway. After the dust settled, they were able to see many holes on one of the crumbled cliffs. Out of them came out...
"Shit! Devilhorn Wasps!"
"A what!?" Jack asked hysterically.
Urdan pointed at the arm sized blood colored wasps flying towards them and explained, "Devilhorn wasps sting you with venom that can kill a grown adult in less than an hour!"
They first mutated when the land was clawed by the great demon into the canyon that they knew today.
Jack was sweating as he prepared for the inevitable battle. He held his bokken tightly and forced himself to calm down and concentrate.
Urdan took out his dual shortswords and prepared similarly.
Poedan shot and reloaded her crossbow repeatedly.
Ledwen began chanting and shot wind blades at the swarm.
Things were about to go down.
...
{...bout 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?'}
"Wasn't that adapted from a novel series?" Rimuru asked before putting some leftover rations into his mouth.
{Positive. You said you wanted to watch a space travel movie.}
"I'd rather read the original source first," he refused as he chewed his food.
Ciel sighed internally. Why were movie dates always so difficult for them?
