Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit

"Phew, that takes care of that. I don't know about you, but I think that went pretty well," Grinned Celia, stretching her arms up with a content look on her face.

"Yeah, I agree. You got the hang of those gauntlets pretty quickly," Nodded Raven, as he cracked his neck.

"To be fair, they're not particularly complex weapons. Plus, they're super light and really flexible, so they don't slow me down at all. They're pretty amazing...I'd say my martial arts are fairly high level for someone who's mostly self-taught, but my physical strength is pretty average, I don't pack much of a punch, I need to land several hits to inflict any real damage. But with these, that's no longer a problem!" She declared as she slammed her fists together, before wincing and adding shakily, "O-ow, I p-probably...probably shouldn't have done that. M-my knuckles hurt and my arms are all n-numb..."

It was the next day, and as Aster had suggested, each of the three pairs had split up and ventured off on their own to train, by fighting any Monsters they came across.

Raven and Celia decided to handicap themselves in order to address their weaknesses; Celia decided to fight using only her martial arts, without her Explosion Magic, and Raven was fighting without transforming, his left arm and face remaining human.

His physical capabilities were lower in this state, his senses and instincts were weaker too, as were his plasma-based attacks. He figured that fighting while in his weaker form would help him improve his overall combat prowess more effectively.

Another reason was that, in this state, he was more vulnerable and therefore more likely to get injured, which gave him more opportunities to use his Recovery Magic Spells and improve his Spellcasting.

"It's pretty convenient that whenever you become Dark Raven, your overall Aura pressure increases slightly after that form wears off, and your Spellcasting becomes a bit more efficient as well. It's too bad you can't trigger that form at will, huh?" Smiled Celia wryly.

"Yeah, I wish I could. It only triggers when my emotions surge, and no matter how hard I try, I can't trigger it just by forcibly riling up my emotions by thinking of bad memories or whatever. Still, at least I understand more about it now...I guess I should be grateful that the Undead King was so chatty, huh?" He replied with a wistful smile.

"Well, he was trapped down there for over a thousand years, we must have been the first people he got to talk to in all that time. It's too bad he was evil...since he had Irregular Magic, we might have been able to recruit him if he was a good guy," Added Celia wistfully, before she put up her guard as she noticed Raven tensing up.

"There's a group of Monsters headed this way through the air. I count seven in total, and based on their Mana signatures, they're probably around Mid Level Threats. They're under a hundred meters away that way and closing in fast...the treetops are in the way, so I can't see them, and we're upwind so I can't pick up their scents, but they're definitely approaching," He informed her, pointing in the direction the Monster's were coming from.

"Sounds like they've noticed us, then. Guess resting will have to wait," Sighed Celia, starting to punch her fists together to amp herself up, before quickly stopping as she recalled how well that went just earlier.

It wasn't long before the Monsters came into sight, a pack of flying Reptile-Type Monsters called Aeroraptors.

They were each about the size of a person, with dark, scaly skin, long, narrow jaws with rows of razor sharp teeth, sharp curved claws, wide wings on their backs and a retractable, hooked claw on each foot.

Two of the Monsters then swooped down towards the pair as the rest spread out and scattered, Raven swiftly fired out his beams at one of the two zipping down, the Monster swiftly veering across and evading it, before it swung one of its feet across at Raven's head as it closed in, slashing its hooked claw towards his left temple, as the other one closed in on Celia, starting to swing one of its hooked claws towards her throat.

Raven unleashed a burst of flames towards the one in front of him, inflicting several burns across the front of its body and forcing it to back away with a sharp roar of pain, before Raven swiftly fired out his beams, hitting the Monster's neck and piercing through, killing it as Celia grabbed the ankle of the other one as its hooked claw closed in on the side of her neck, before giving it a sharp pull and driving her right fist towards its head, a loud crunch ringing out as she snapped its neck upon impact as her fist collided against it, killing it instantly as the gauntlet on her right arm magnified the impact.

She then spun around as two of the other ones sprang up behind her, springing back as one of them snapped its jaws at her, before the other one leapt straight towards her.

Raven swiftly turned around and stepped forward, reaching out and grabbing the Monster's neck before it could reach Celia, unleashing a burst of lightning from his hand and frying the creature's throat, smoke bursting out of its mouth as it died instantly.

The other one then quickly flew back up, letting out a threatening snarl as it eyed them warily, keeping its distance.

"Three down, four to go...the rest are lurking around us in the bushes," Remarked Raven, as he warily kept track of their positions.

"These things aren't much of a threat individually, but they're fairly intelligent and are dangerous in a group. So don't let your guard down...that said, we can definitely handle them," Replied Celia confidently.

Meanwhile...

"Are you really sure about this? Seems pretty risky, if you ask me," Frowned Lexia, as Colt stared up at the sky with an unusually serious look on his face.

"Yeah...I'm sure," He nodded, determination in his eyes.

The two of them hadn't stayed in Pearl Forest, Colt had decided to take a different approach, and Lexia had grudgingly joined him.

They'd traveled to the outskirts of Ruby Village, which bordered a large body of water known as the Apatite River. They then proceeded to steal a boat on the docks at the shore of the river, after knocking out the people stationed there.

They were heading to Amber Village, which was located a few kilometers ahead of the other end of the river, and it also happened to be the place where Colt and Celia grew up before being forced to leave after awakening their Irregular Magic.

For a long time, Colt had been harboring a vengeful desire against the church in that village, the very church that killed his parents and ruined his and his sister's lives.

The Irregulars had previously launched a few small scale attacks in Amber Village, during which they managed to eliminate a handful of Inquisitors and corrupt Knights, but the main object of Colt's revenge, the Priest in charge of the Amber Village church, was still alive.

"It's too bad we don't have any more Teleport Spells, we'd already be there by now if we did. It also means we can't make a quick getaway if it comes down to it, I hope you're aware of that," Lexia warned him.

"I know that...but it's high time I do this. I'll get revenge for what Celia and I were put through, so that we can finally put that chapter of our lives behind us," He stated with a grimace.

"It's so weird seeing him like this, why can't he always act this way? It's actually kind of hot-...n-no, that's insane, why would I even think that!?" Lexia thought to herself, before shaking her head to compose herself and clearing her throat, before responding, "While I certainly have no intention of stopping you, should you really be doing this without Celia? I mean, she suffered at the hands of the church in Amber Village too. So, shouldn't she be a part of this as well?"

"Going back there will just bring back bad memories for her...the couple of times we launched minor attacks in Amber Village, well before we met Raven, Celia was a mess during those attacks. When we were growing up, I had this idea that I wanted to be a reliable older brother, so I ended up becoming pretty mature for my age...obviously, I was still severely affected by what we went through, but she was hit a lot harder than I was.

She was in a state of shock for several days after our parents died, she barely spoke, ate or slept, it took months before she mentally recovered. Despite her cheerful, carefree attitude most of the time, the scars from our past run deep in her mind, and she only recovered because she likely buried those memories subconsciously...she knows everything that happened, but her actual memories of it are hazy. I don't want to put her in a position where those old scars with reopen and those memories come flooding back...that's why I have to do this by myself," He stated with a firm, determined look in his eyes.

"I've never seen him being so serious before, he's like a different person. He hasn't said a single masochistic thing since we set out today," Lexia thought to herself, before frowning as she noticed ripples in the water, heading towards the boat, "Hey, look sharp, something's coming."

Colt stood up and glanced at the water, right as a dark figure burst out of the surface of the river and leapt onto the boat with a snarl, growling menacingly.

It was a humanoid, reptilian creature, with a jet-black, scaly body, a long, wide set of jaws filled with serrated rows of sharp teeth, sharp claws and a long, thick tail.

"Looks like a Caimanoid," Remarked Lexia, starting to extend a bone blade out of her right hand, before Colt swiftly shot towards the creature with his dagger in hand.

It was a Mid Level Threat, categorized as both a Reptile-Type and Aquatic-Type Monster.

It let out another snarl and snapped its jaws at Colt as he closed in on it. He swiftly got low to evade it before zipping forward and slicing his dagger across its left side, the Monster yelping in pain as he shot past it before it whipped its tail towards him.

He sprang back and evaded the swing of its tail, before the Monster shot towards Lexia, leaping towards her with its jaws wide open.

She swiftly stepped off to her right, getting out of the way before raising her hand and pointing her index finger at its left eye, firing out a rapid bone bullet from her fingertip.

The Monster roared in pain as the projectile burst through its eye and blinded it, right as Colt zipped up behind it and slashed at its heels with his dagger, bringing it down to its knees before swiftly plunging the blade into the back of its neck.

Blood poured out of its mouth as its body slumped over, before it fell over and hit the deck with a thud, its blood forming a puddle and pooling around its head.

"You seem to have gotten used to that new weapon pretty quickly," Remarked Lexia, as Colt pushed the Caimanoid's Corpse overboard, a splash echoing out as it hit the water and sunk down, a tingle of red flowing out across the surface.

"Well, I have used daggers before, so it isn't a totally unfamiliar weapon to me," He replied with a shrug, as he sat back down and leaned again the side of the boat.

"Really wish I got a Relic Armament too...I know I should just try to get over it, but I can't help it...," Lexia thought to herself, as she glanced at the dagger with a hint of envy in her eyes...