Chapter 44 FORTY-FOUR

Chapter 44: Chapter FORTY-FOUR

A huge crater. Like a huge rock or maybe a meteorite had fallen from the sky and crashed on earth. Debris flies into the air, dust covers the whole place.

Xin Linhua stops breathing for a second.

Just right when they were about to crash, Rong Yizhan had switched their positions, breaking their fall just as he had said he would.

Xin Linhua felt the impact through his whole being. How Rong Yizhan had collided with the rocky ground. The soft groan that escapes him. How he goes still afterwards, hands still wrapped tight around Xin Linhua.

"Yaras?..." Xin Linhua tries to free himself "Let go of me first..."

The hand around him loosens slightly. Xin Linhua quickly crawls up, dust flutters from the tip of his bangs. He can’t tell if Rong Yizhan is alright or not, he’s blindfolded after all so he can’t confirm it.

Beneath his palm, Rong Yizhan’s strong heartbeat thuds strong in his chest. That seems to give him a bit of relief as he exhales.

"Yaras?." He reaches out towards the blindfold.

"I’m fine." Rong Yizhan suddenly grabs his wrist.

"Oh." Xin Linhua retrieves his hand "You scared me for a second."

"I’m alright. What about you?"

"I’m fine. You took the impact of the fall, and almost sent my heart straight out of my throat. Don’t do that shit again."

Rong Yizhan doesn’t reply. He just lies there like he’s dead.

"You’re supposed to give a response!"

"Okay."

"That’s not a reply! Never mind. If I keep yelling, I might strangle your ass. Get up!"

"Xin Linhua."

"What!?"

"You’re still on top of me. I can’t stand up."

Xin Linhua’s mind goes blank. He finally realizes the position they’re in. He’s straddling Rong Yizhan.

"Shit!" He scrambles up "Sorry! Sorry!"

Rong Yizhan sits up, rubbing the back of his neck. His bones creak slightly. Xin Linhua helps him up, ruffling his hair to get rid of sand and small stones.

"Are you made of metal or something?" Xin Linhua asks out of pure curiosity "You just fell...from the freaking sky! Like, cannon balled into the freaking mountains! Meteorite typa stunt and you’re moving fine!? Are you moving from a dopamine rush?"

"He’s not."

Hirano leaps off the stone. They’re close to the ground now so he takes the jump. He walks towards them.

"Glad to see you two are doing fine." He glances at Rong Yizhan "Broke anything? That was a pretty hard fall, even for you."

"No. I’m fine." Rong Yizhan stands to his feet and dust himself off.

"Xin Linhua." Rong Yufei jogs towards him "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I’m good. Not dead yet." He nods.

"Where are we?"

The Hydromancer’s question pulls them back to the reality of their situation.

They finally take in the scenery around them.

The entire rift– the whole space seems to be nothing but a world of mountains and canyons, valleys and cliffs. Tall mountains with snow and clouds covering the upper half. The lower half is barren, almost nothing grows from the land.

The entire place is a waste land. Scorch marks can be seen everywhere– on rocky ground and mountain walls. Like a large fire once engulfed the whole rift and left it barren and scorched for life.

"This is..."

"A Nikura rift." Xin Linhua completes her words.

The group goes quiet. They slowly form an encirclement, their backs to each other without needing to be told.

"Where are the Nikuras?" Gao Shi frowns

"We have to find them ourselves. Though I doubt that’ll be hard. They’ll come to us themselves."

"What about the rift entrance?"

"We don’t have to worry about that." He turns to the direction of the mountain they had fallen from "This entrance is right at the edge of a cliff. You’ll have to climb the steep mountain to get to the rift. Nikuras can’t."

"Well, good news for the back up teams, I guess."

"Bad news for us." Xin Linhua says "We’ll have to face C-Rank level monsters and wipe them all out. Unless we wanna be trapped here, that is."

"Let’s hope we don’t face a horde"

"That’s the trick." Xin Linhua sighs as he pulls out his long knife "There’s always a horde to face."

"That’s reassuring." Gao Shi taunts.

"Shut up while you still can." Xin Linhua glares "This isn’t a gig for Pyromancers, so stay back. Aeromancers too. Earth and water can counter fire, so Hydromancers at the front, Geomancers at the rear. Everyone else, fall in between."

"Understood."

"No matter what happens, pyromancers are not to counter fire with fire. Aeromancers... You’ll literally just make it worse since you have the ability to control air."

"We understand."

"And Gao Shi?" Xin Linhua fully faces him.

"What?" The young man raises an eyebrow behind his glasses.

"Try not to backstab someone in the team."

The group falls into formation. Xin Linhua and Rong Yizhan leads the way. The Hydromancers are behind them. The pyromancers and Aeromancers are in between, and Hirano and Rong Yufei are holding up the rear.

"Do you think this is safe?" Rong Yizhan asks after a while.

"Why do you say so?"

"They’re C-Ranks, but C-Rank rift barely open so they may not have much experience. This is their first time in a rift, they’ll be fighting more than one Nikura."

"I get what you’re saying." Xin Linhua flicks his blade "But this is the price of staying with you. We have to train them and keep them alive. Even if one of them has a tendency to backstab a teammate."

"Not necessarily."

"What?" Xin Linhua blinks in confusion.

"It’ll be perfectly normal for a C-Rank to die in a high level rift where he had to fight multiple Nikuras."

Xin Linhua’s head goes blank. It takes a while for him to fully process what his Sentinel was insinuating.

If Gao Shi so much as step out of line, Rong Yizhan wouldn’t hesitate to put him down for good. Blame it on the rift at the end.

"Absolutely the fuck not!" Xin Linhua suddenly blurts "You can’t do that."

"Who knows..."

Xin Linhua fails to give a proper reply. For some reason, he missed the few months ago Rong Yizhan. The one who shoved him for stepping on him and literally threw a punch because Xin Linhua touched him.

Ever since he started talking more– leaving behind his cold nature to accommodate Xin Linhua, the man had been almost unbearable. He’s worst than before. Totally unpredictable!

"Ah...that little–"

"Incoming!" An Hydromancer suddenly yells "A Nikura!"

Xin Linhua’s mind moves faster than his brain. His fingers curls around the slender blade, his body turns towards the direction of the monster.

"No."

A hand reaches out and drag him back. He turns to the man, eyes widen in confusion and disbelief.

"Yaras?! What are you doing!?"

"If they can’t defeat one Nikura, they should just give up and withdraw from the program when we get back."

"Are you just seriously going to stand there–"

"Yes." Rong Yizhan tilts his head up slightly "I never said I was going to protect them. I’m not obligated to. I promised to train them, and that’s what I’m doing right now."

"Yaras?!" Xin Linhua grabs his wrist "Do you know how crazy you sound? Senior is part of the team too."

"If Gan can’t defeat it, he’s unworthy of his title. They all are."