NOVEL NEXT Chapter 82: Heavy Beast
Of course I get paired with Celeste, Lucas thought, but he kept his expression neutral. "Sounds good."
They finished packing in silence, each person double-checking their supplies and weapons.
Lucas retrieved his sword from where Lydia had left it. He noticed several new nicks in the blade from the previous night's fight.
The two teams separated at the edge of camp, Damion's group heading northeast while Lucas's team moved northwest along the stream.
For the first twenty minutes, they walked in silence. Lydia led the way, while Celeste stayed close to Lucas's side.
Finally, Celeste spoke. "I'm sorry about last night."
Lucas glanced at her, surprised. "You don't need to apologize."
"Yes, I do." She kept her eyes forward. "I lost control. That was... inappropriate. Especially in front of the others."
"You were scared," Lucas said carefully. "That's understandable."
"I wasn't scared for myself." Celeste's hands clenched around her pack straps. "I was scared for you. There's a difference."
Ahead of them, Lydia suddenly raised her hand in a stop signal. Both Lucas and Celeste froze.
"Moonpetal cluster," Lydia whispered, pointing to a patch of silvery flowers growing near the water's edge. "But look. It seems there's a Marsh Stalker guarding it."
Lucas followed her gaze and spotted the creature.
It looked like a heron crossed with a lizard, standing about four feet tall with elongated legs and a wickedly sharp beak. Marsh Stalkers were ambush predators that used their camouflage to blend with the reeds.
"How do you want to handle this?" Lydia asked.
"I'll draw it away," Lucas said. "You two harvest while it's distracted."
"Absolutely not," Celeste said. "You're not playing bait again."
"It's the most efficient approach..."
"I don't care about efficiency." Celeste said . "We do this together or not at all."
Lucas sighed. "Fine. Then we all engage. Lydia, can you use your light magic to blind it? Celeste, freeze its legs. I'll go for a killing strike while it's immobilized."
"Much better," Celeste said.
They moved into position, spreading out to approach from different angles. Lucas gave the signal, and chaos erupted.
"[Light Flash]!" Lydia's spell burst forth, brilliant and blinding. The Marsh Stalker shrieked, its head whipping around in confusion.
"[Frost Chains]!" Celeste's ice magic wrapped around the creature's legs, anchoring it in place.
Lucas charged, his sword raised. The Marsh Stalker saw him coming despite its blindness, its beak snapping toward him with frightening speed.
He ducked under the attack and drove his blade into the creature's throat, angling upward toward where he assumed its brain would be. The Marsh Stalker convulsed once, then went still.
"Clear!" Lucas called out, withdrawing his blade.
Lydia and Celeste quickly harvested the Moonpetal cluster while Lucas kept watch. They managed to collect seventeen blooms before the area was picked clean.
"Not bad," Lydia said, carefully storing the flowers in a preservation pouch. "That's 255 points right there."
They continued along the stream, finding several more resource clusters. Some required combat to access like a nest of Razor Wasps guarding a Honeycomb formation or a territorial Mud Newt protecting a cluster of Healing Moss but it was nothing they couldn't handle as a team.
By the time noon approached, they'd accumulated an impressive haul: the Moonpetals, three intact Razor Wasp honeycombs, two full bags of Healing Moss, several rare mushroom varieties, and the components from various creatures they'd defeated.
"We should head back toward the rendezvous point," Lucas said, checking his navigation crystal. "See how Damion's team fared."
They were about halfway back when Celeste suddenly grabbed Lucas's arm, pulling him to a stop.
"Wait," she said. "Do you hear that?"
Lucas strained his ears. At first, he heard nothing unusual. It was just the sounds of the forest. Then he caught it: a low rumbling, rhythmic and getting louder.
"That sounds like..." Lydia started.
The ground shook.
"Run!" Lucas shouted.
They bolted just as an enormous shape crashed through the trees behind them. Lucas risked a glance back and his blood turned to ice.
It was an Iron Tusk Boar, not just any boar, but the matriarch herself. Eight feet of muscle, bone plates, and razor-sharp thorns, charging at them with the force of a runaway carriage.
"Split up!" Lydia yelled. "It can't chase all of us!"
They separated, Lucas going left, Celeste right, and Lydia straight ahead. The Matriarch didn't hesitate. She adjusted course and went straight for Lucas.
Of course she did. Why wouldn't she?
He could hear her tusks tearing through undergrowth behind him. She was getting closer with each second.
A tree root caught his foot. Lucas went down hard, rolling to absorb the impact. He came up in time to see the Matriarch bearing down on him, those tusks aimed at his chest.
Then Celeste was there, appearing between him and certain death. Ice magic erupted from her hands in a continuous stream, not a spell but raw power channeled without control.
"[Eternal Frost]!" she screamed.
The temperature plummeted. The stream of ice struck the Matriarch head-on, and the massive creature's charge faltered as frost spread across its face and front legs.
But Celeste didn't stop. She kept pouring mana into the spell. .
"Celeste, stop!" Lydia shouted. "You're going to drain yourself completely!"
Celeste ignored her. More ice, more power, until the Matriarch was encased from head to shoulders in a block of frozen magic.
Only then did Celeste cut off the spell. She swayed, her face pale, but her eyes were locked on Lucas. She gave him a smile.
Then she collapsed.
Lucas caught her before she hit the ground, her body limp and cold in his arms. He could feel her pulse. It was weak but steady. She'd burned through her entire mana reserve in one massive spell.
"We need to move," Lydia said urgently. "That ice won't hold the Matriarch forever, and the magic surge will attract other predators."
Lucas lifted Celeste into his arms, cradling her against his chest. She was lighter than he expected, or maybe his enhanced strength made her seem that way.
"Which direction?" he asked.
Lydia checked her crystal. "East. The rendezvous point is close."