Chapter 73: Dead?

Corin lifted his shield, but Nessa spoke before anyone moved closer.

"Bring it away from the rocks. I won’t have room on that side."

Frost looked at the narrow gap beside the creature and understood what she meant.

Charging straight towards it would leave them crowded together, with Jarek struggling to find a clear shot and Nessa unable to move around its flank.

They spread out carefully.

Corin approached far enough to draw its attention, then backed towards the more open sand. Frost stayed beside him, resisting the urge to watch every movement of its claws so closely that he forgot where he was putting his feet.

The creature followed, and when it rushed, they were ready.

The impact still jarred Frost’s arm, but he didn’t let his shield rise across his face this time.

He kept the creature in sight, moved when Corin moved, and left enough space for Nessa’s spear to reach past them.

Lyne circled towards its side while Jarek waited for an opening instead of sending an arrow into the thickest part of its shell.

It wasn’t a clean fight. Frost’s first thrust missed, Corin nearly caught a claw around his shield again, and the creature forced them backward farther than they had intended.

But they kept their positions well enough for Lyne to wound one of its legs, and Nessa finished it when it sagged towards the injured side.

No triagrams appeared.

Frost stepped away with his breathing heavy and his sword still raised, only lowering it once he was certain the creature had stopped moving.

"Better," Ava said as she approached. "You gave yourselves room before engaging. Remember how much difference that made."

Frost looked back towards the rocks where the beast had been sheltering. He could easily imagine himself getting pinned there, trying to swing his sword while the others struggled to reach him.

He wiped his blade, then checked the shield strap before tightening it slightly.

"Arm holding up?" Corin asked.

"Ask me after the next one."

Corin chuckled and offered him the waterskin. Frost took a drink, handed it back, and looked along the beach while the others checked their equipment.

There were plenty more rocks ahead, and he was beginning to suspect that quite a few of them would have something unpleasant living underneath.

...

"Frost is dead," Samuel said, regarding Jennifer with a rather grim expression. "The hunting party he went with returned without him. Apparently, they encountered some powerful creatures and were forced to retreat, but he didn’t make it."

Jennifer remained silent for a moment, her expression barely changing as she took in the news.

"Is that so?" she said, though before Samuel could say anything else, a sudden burst of laughter came from beside her.

"Hahahaha! I told you so!" Jason exclaimed, shaking his head as though he had just heard something incredibly amusing. "That idiot actually went and got himself killed! What was he thinking, going into the hunting grounds without an affinity? Did he think those beasts would take pity on him because he was weak?"

Samuel frowned, but Jason didn’t seem to care. He had never liked Frost, and hearing that the guy had died while trying to become something he clearly wasn’t capable of becoming was nothing short of hilarious to him.

"All that nonsense about having some mysterious affinity, and look where it got him," he continued with a sneer. "He should have just accepted his situation and found some ordinary work. What use was his talent if he couldn’t even use a rune?"

Jennifer paid him no mind. After a few more words with Samuel, the pair left, making their way through the crowded streets towards the main city, though Jason continued making the occasional comment about Frost along the way.

She couldn’t understand what was so entertaining about it, but she didn’t bother asking him to stop either.

Once Jason found something amusing, there was little point trying to convince him otherwise.

Her expression remained as blank as before, making it difficult to tell what she thought about the news, but inwardly, Jennifer shook her head.

For some reason, it irked her that Frost had simply gone and died.

She couldn’t quite explain why, since they hadn’t been particularly close, but remembering how he had looked the last time they met made the news all the more unpleasant.

He had been doing terribly, of course. Anyone could have seen that much, despite his attempts to brush the matter aside when she asked.

Still, he had been alive, eating like someone who hadn’t seen a proper meal in weeks, and now she was being told that he was dead.

It was difficult to connect the two, even though she should have been used to how easily people could lose their lives in this world by now.

Perhaps that was what annoyed her. She had gone through the trouble of checking on him, only for him to get himself killed before she could visit again.

It was an unreasonable thought, and she knew it, but that didn’t stop her from feeling that way.

By the time they reached the entrance to the main city, Jason had finally grown tired of mocking someone who wasn’t there to hear him.

The heavily armed guards recognized their uniforms, and after a brief glance at the emblems on their chests, they allowed them through without any trouble.

Several people waiting nearby looked over with envy, though neither Jennifer nor Jason paid them much attention.

Beyond the entrance, Linden stretched before them in all its wondrous splendor. Magnificent towers of polished white metal and lustrous glass rose into the sky, their sweeping shapes connected by intricate skybridges that passed high above the streets.

Luminous inscriptions adorned their facades, glowing softly beneath the sunlight, while vast holographic displays hovered over the entrances of grand establishments, presenting all manner of equipment, services, and luxuries to the people below.

Sleek vehicles glided along the broad avenues, their movements smooth and almost soundless, with shimmering triagrams revolving beneath their frames.

Others traveled through the air between the towering structures, following routes marked by suspended lights before disappearing into elevated platforms.

Farther ahead, a colossal building rose around a series of hanging gardens, with verdant terraces spilling over its edges and crystalline streams of water cascading down its sides.

Even after living here for some time, Jennifer occasionally found herself wondering how such an extravagant place could exist.

Unfortunately, she hadn’t had much time to appreciate any of it recently. The past few weeks had been terribly busy, with the guild’s higher-ups working their group to the bone.

They would return from one mission, spend whatever time they could recovering and repairing their equipment, then find themselves preparing for another before everyone was properly rested.

At first, Jennifer had thought that this was simply how things worked in a major guild. They were being given resources and guidance, after all, so it was only reasonable that they would be expected to work hard in return.

However, after a certain conversation with the higher-ups, she had begun to understand that there was more to their exhausting schedule than that.

She had been told to leave the weaker members of her group behind.

Of course, they hadn’t said it quite so bluntly at first.

They had explained that she, Jason, and Lois possessed the potential to advance much further, and that keeping them with people of lesser talent would only slow them down.

The guild wanted to place the three of them in a cohort alongside its most promising recruits, where they could receive better support and grow without worrying about carrying anyone else.

Jennifer had refused.

She understood their reasoning, but that didn’t mean she was willing to abandon people who had been fighting alongside her all this time.

The others were trying their best, and although they were progressing more slowly, they had still contributed to the group’s success.

Simply throwing them aside because better companions had become available wasn’t something she could readily accept.

Jason, naturally, had disagreed with her. He had been quite eager to accept the offer, and even now, he occasionally complained that her stubbornness was costing them opportunities.

Jennifer had ignored him, but she couldn’t ignore the fact that the guild had become considerably less accommodating after her refusal.

The missions kept coming, and they were growing more dangerous.

It wasn’t difficult to understand what the higher-ups were trying to tell her. If she wasn’t willing to get rid of the dead weight herself, they would let the hunting grounds do it for her.

There were countless things that could go wrong during a hunt, especially in the mid-ranking grounds, where rifts could open unexpectedly, and all manner of beasts could pour out.

Even a well-prepared group could find itself overwhelmed, let alone one whose members were already exhausted.

Someone only needed to react a little too slowly, or run out of essence at the wrong moment, and that would be the end of them.

Afterward, the guild could simply call it an unfortunate incident, offer a few words of comfort, and bring up the matter of a new cohort again.

Jennifer’s eyes narrowed slightly. Honestly, it was a rather disgusting way of doing things, but knowing what they were attempting didn’t mean she could easily do anything about it.

"Look! Those two are members of Eclipse Guild!"

A young, excited voice pulled her attention back towards the street, and she glanced briefly at a small group standing outside an equipment store.

Their eyes were fixed on the emblems on her and Jason’s uniforms, and a few more people turned after hearing the exclamation.

"Wow, really? They look so young!"

"Of course they are. Look at the emblem."

Jennifer looked away, continuing towards the guild headquarters, but Jason basked in the attention they were receiving.

A pleased smile appeared on his face as he adjusted his coat, making no effort to hide how much he enjoyed the attention.

It was almost amusing how quickly his mood could improve when someone reminded him that he was important.

Eclipse was one of the top three evolver guilds in Linden, after all. It recruited only the most promising evolvers, and simply being accepted was enough to make people regard a person differently.

There was little need to prove anything when the emblem on one’s chest had already done most of the work.

Almost every establishment in the city would open its doors to an Eclipse member without difficulty.

Merchants became more polite, restaurants suddenly found available tables, and even people who ordinarily wouldn’t have spared them a glance were willing to offer a greeting.

Jason had grown quite fond of that treatment, and in all honesty, Jennifer couldn’t say that she hadn’t benefited from it as well.

Still, thinking about the way the guild treated those it considered less valuable made all that respect feel somewhat unpleasant.

She looked ahead as their headquarters came into view, its enormous emblem displayed proudly above the entrance.

Jason was still smiling beside her, occasionally returning the admiring looks they received, while Jennifer could only hope that whatever assignment awaited them would at least allow everyone to come back alive.