Chapter 50: Kong Zhen

His sword left its sheath as his feet touched the ground. The ape had barely turned toward the unexpected arrival when Sigurd crossed its path and cut once through the throat.

Blood sprayed across the grass, and the creature stumbled several steps before collapsing.

Almost simultaneously, the wild-haired boy spun his staff above his head and smashed it down onto the wounded ape before him.

BANG!

Its skull caved in.

The two boys looked at each other across the clearing.

Recognition appeared in the wild-haired boy’s clear eyes first.

His grin widened as he rested the bloodstained staff across one shoulder and said, "You’re the guy from the transport vessel. Zone Forty-One."

Sigurd crouched beside his kill and reached for the marker beneath its neck. "You were asleep most of the journey. I’m surprised you remember."

The boy walked toward his own kill, chuckling as he answered, "I wasn’t asleep the entire time. Besides, that hair isn’t exactly difficult to remember."

Sigurd removed the marker. Before he could straighten, the tip of the staff slid over his hand.

Sigurd looked down. The wild-haired boy had extended the weapon across the distance between them and was now holding it directly above the black marker.

The boy’s expression became shamelessly innocent. "That one was with my group."

Sigurd looked at the corpse before meeting his eyes. "And I killed it."

The boy considered that, slowly nodded and withdrew his staff. "Fair enough."

Sigurd picked up the marker.

The boy crouched beside his own beast. Just before his fingers reached the marker, Sigurd kicked a loose stone. It skipped across the ground and knocked the marker away.

The boy’s hand closed around empty air.

He remained crouched for a moment before slowly looking over his shoulder.

Sigurd slipped his marker into his pouch and said, "That one was near my kill."

The boy stared at him.

Then he burst out laughing.

He moved without warning. The staff swept horizontally toward Sigurd’s ribs with enough force that the air whistled around it.

Sigurd drew and intercepted.

CLANG!

The impact traveled through his wrist.

Sigurd’s eyes sharpened. The staff was wood, but the strength behind it certainly wasn’t.

He redirected the weapon and stepped inside its reach, thrusting toward the boy’s shoulder. The boy released one hand, allowing the staff to rotate around his remaining palm, and leaned away from the blade.

His body continued with the movement rather than fighting against it, turning a retreat into a spin that brought the opposite end of his staff toward Sigurd’s temple.

Sigurd ducked.

The staff passed above his hair.

He stepped forward.

The boy shortened his grip immediately and drove the center of the staff toward Sigurd’s chest.

Sigurd knocked it aside with his sword, changed angle and cut toward the boy’s neck. The wild-haired boy bent backward untilthe blade passed inches above his face, planted one hand against the ground and kicked toward Sigurd’s sword wrist.

Sigurd withdrew his hand. The boy used the kick’s momentum to roll backward and landed on his feet with the same enormous grin.

Neither waited. They closed again.

Wood and steel collided twice in rapid succession. Sigurd redirected a thrust, slipped along the staff and entered close enough to make the longer weapon awkward.

The boy responded by abandoning conventional distance entirely. He shifted both hands toward the center and struck with the shaft itself, forcing Sigurd to turn his shoulder beforedriving one end upward toward his jaw.

Sigurd avoided it by inches. His sword moved simultaneously, the blade stopped beside the boy’s throat.

The staff stopped against Sigurd’s ribs.

Both remained still.

The wild-haired boy glanced at the sword near his neck before looking toward the staff pressed against Sigurd’s side. Rather than becoming irritated, his clear eyes seemed even brighter than before.

He withdrew first.

The boy planted his staff against the ground and said with a huge grin, "You’re strong. I’m Kong Zhen."

Sigurd lowered his sword. "Sigurd."

Kong blinked, then he looked at Sigurd’s hair. Then his face, then his hair again.

Kong’s eyebrows rose as he finally asked, "So you are a Grandel?"

Sigurd sheathed his sword and nodded. "There isn’t another one."

Kong stared for another second before his grin returned. "That explains why you’re strong."

That was apparently all he had to say about it.

He walked over and retrieved the marker Sigurd had knocked away, then movedamong the corpses collecting the other three he had earned. Once finished, Kong tied the pouch at his waist securely and rested the bloodied staff across his shoulders again.

Sigurd watched him for a moment.

Kong pointed his weapon toward the eastern forest and said, "I’m heading that way. I heard something breaking trees earlier, and I’m hoping it’s better than these things."

Sigurd glanced northwest before replying, "I’m tracking something in that direction. The signs suggest a Common Rank Demonic Beast."

Interest immediately appeared on Kong’s face, but after looking northwest for several seconds, he shook his head. "I’ll keep going east. If I start chasing every interesting thing I hear, I’ll never reach anything."

He turned and began walking away, casually carrying the same staff that had just shattered bones and crushed skulls as though it weighed nothing.

After several steps, Kong glanced over his shoulder and called back with a grin, "Sigurd, don’t get eaten before we meet again. I want to finish that fight."

Sigurd rested one hand on the pommel of his sword and answered, "Next time, don’t stopyour staff."

Kong laughed and disappeared between the trees.

Sigurd remained in the clearing for several seconds before turning northwest.

Sylvia’s dossiers had given him names worth remembering before he ever entered Helheim: descendants of the Seven Great Branches, heirs of the High Vassal Houses and other children whose backgrounds or reputations made them stand out.

Kong Zhen hadn’t been among them. Now his name was one Sigurd wouldn’t forget. He was simply too interesting for him to forget.

Sigurd resumed following the trail.