’!’
Nick stared at the incoming hound in horror.
His mind scread at him to move, to raise his sword, to do sothing.
But his body wouldn’t respond.
The hound’s jaws gaped wide, the glowing red fissures along its body pulsing brighter as it closed the distance.
Two ters.
One.
’Move. Move. MOVE!’
But he couldn’t. His legs felt rooted to the ground, his arms locked in place. Fear gripped him like iron chains.
"GRRR!"
The hound lunged.
"NICK!"
At that exact mont, Nami’s voice cut through the paralysis like a knife.
Sothing inside him snapped.
A sudden surge of strength flooded his body, hot and electric. His hand moved before his mind caught up, gripping the hilt of his sword and yanking it free.
Flas erupted along the blade.
Nick swung.
A diagonal slash, downward and across.
Swoosh!
The blade cleaved through the hound cleanly, cutting it in two. The separated halves hit the ground on either side of him, twitching once before going still.
Silence descended over the battlefield.
Nick stood there, breathing hard, staring at the dead hound at his feet.
His hands trembled slightly, still gripping the sword.
Then he clenched his fist, a grin spreading across his face.
"I... I did it."
"Yeah. Nice work," Nami said from behind him, her tone calm but approving.
Nick turned to her, his grin widening. "Hehe, told you I could do it."
But then he paused, recalling that mont. The paralysis. The fear. The sound of her voice broke through it all. That surge of strength... It was obvious she used her ability on him. Which ant she was the one who saved him, not the other way around.
Despite failing to keep his ’promise’, his expression softened slightly.
"T-Thanks for the help."
Nami shrugged. "Don’t ntion it. We’re teammates."
"R-Right. Teammates."
Nick muttered the word and looked forward.
His father and the other two had already finished off the rest of the monsters. Moro was wiping blood off his warhamr, his expression calm and unreadable. Rea was retrieving arrows from the corpses. Soren stood near the rightmost hound, spear still in hand, watching the group quietly.
Moro glanced at Nick, his gaze lingering for a mont. However, if one looked closely, they could easily see the approval and pride in his eyes.
"Good job. Now, let’s keep moving."
_____ ___ _
The raid continued deeper into the gorge.
Over the next hour, they encountered four more packs of Fissure Hounds and a scattered group of Stone Golems. Although there were so difficulties, the fights went more smoothly each ti.
Nick’s movents grew sharper, more confident. He still made mistakes, overextending on strikes or hesitating when he should have committed, but he was learning. And slowly, the arrogance from earlier began to settle into sothing closer to genuine focus.
Though his mouth hadn’t quite caught up yet.
"Did you see that?!" Nick called out after landing a clean strike on a Golem’s leg joint. "Perfect timing!"
"It was fine," Nami said flatly, not looking at him as she reinforced her blade with a faint shimr of enchantnt.
"Fine? That was AMAZING!" Nick protested.
"If you say so."
Rea chuckled softly from the back.
Soren said nothing, keeping his eyes on the terrain ahead.
He didn’t care about Nick’s narcissism as long as they could finish the raid successfully. The boy was loud, yes, but at least he was improving.
What caught Soren’s attention more was Moro.
The way he moved. The way he positioned himself. Always close enough to intervene, but never so close that Nick couldn’t act on his own.
Soren had seen it from the very beginning.
That mont when Moro’s foot "slipped" on the gravel, letting the hound past him.
It hadn’t been an accident.
Moro had done it deliberately. To give his son a chance to fight. To show off. To grow.
And even without Nami’s tily shout, Soren was certain Moro had everything under control. The man could have crushed that hound in an instant if Nick had truly been in danger.
’So that’s what having a father feels like...’
Soren’s grip on his spear tightened slightly.
’You can be arrogant. Make mistakes. Take risks. Because soone is always watching your back. Always ready to catch you if you fall.’
Young Nick didn’t realize any of that. And probably wouldn’t anyti soon.
However, he also understood Moro’s intentions.
The man knew his own limits. Second Circle Peak. That was probably as far as he would ever go. His potential had plateaued, his growth stagnant.
But his son was different.
Nick had potential. High potential. Fifth Circle, maybe higher if he pushed himself.
So Moro was doing what any good father would do.
Teaching him. Guiding him. Giving him the experience and confidence he’d need to surpass him one day.
’He’s preparing his son for a future he won’t be part of.’
Soren exhaled quietly and kept walking.
He didn’t have that.
Never had.
But maybe... that was fine.
He had sothing, soone else now.
....Ethea.
A reason to keep moving forward.
He let the thought settle, then quietly released it.
This wasn’t the ti or place for it anyway.
Soren refocused on the terrain ahead and kept walking.
Finally, after another hour, the gorge widened ahead, opening into a circular arena-like space surrounded by jagged rock walls. The ground was flat and cracked, littered with shattered stone and scorch marks.
At the center stood the boss.
A massive Stone Golem, easily four and a half ters tall. Its body was constructed from layered slabs of dark granite, held together by glowing seams of molten red energy that pulsed like veins. Its limbs were thick as tree trunks, and each step it took left deep impressions in the ground.
But what stood out most were the three crystalline formations embedded in its chest and head. One in the center of its torso, two where eyes would be on a human face. They glowed faintly, refracting light in sharp, unnatural angles.
The Gorge Golem turned toward them, its movents slow and deliberate.
As soon as its ’eyes’ landed on them, they glowed in deep red.
"Roaaar!"
"Spread out!" Moro shouted imdiately. "Don’t cluster! Those crystals are its weak points. Aim for them if you get an opening."
Everyone scattered.
The Golem lifted one massive arm and slamd it down toward Moro.
Moro raised his warhamr and t the strike head-on. The impact sent shockwaves through the ground, cracks spiderwebbing outward from the point of collision.
But Moro held firm.
"Rea! Target the eyes!"
Rea was already moving. She circled to the side, nocking an arrow and drawing back. She exhaled, focused, and released.
The arrow flew true, striking the Golem’s left eye crystal.
Crack.
A spiderweb fracture spread across the surface, and the glow dimd.
The Golem roared again, swinging its other arm in a wide arc toward Rea.
"Move!" Soren shouted.
Rea dove to the side just as the massive limb swept past, missing her by inches.
Soren darted in from the right, his spear aid at the Golem’s leg joint. He thrust forward, channeling ice Mana into the strike.
First Form: Frost Piercing Thrust.
The spear tip glowed with crystalline frost and pierced through the stone, embedding itself deep into the joint. Ice spread rapidly from the point of impact, freezing the surrounding rock.
The Golem’s leg buckled slightly, its movent slowing on that side.
"Nice!" Nick shouted from the other side. He swung his fla-coated sword at the Golem’s other leg, carving a shallow gash into the stone.
Nami followed up, her staff shimring with enchantnt as she struck the sa spot, deepening the cut.
The Golem roared and swung both arms down simultaneously in a crushing overhead strike.
"Scatter!"
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