The Homeseeker: Elemental Adventurer LitRPG [Isekai] (Series Complete!)

Rep and Zalan bolted through miles upon miles of distance with help from their Artifacts. They may have passed a few monsters on the way, but Zalan was going at too high a speed to tell between neutral landscape shapes and roaming creatures. The world began sprouting more plants as they passed through the arid climates to more lush environments. Each town they passed by, they asked about whether there was an Elemental in the area, but were directed further east.

Zalan was able to quell his growing dread of being powerless by speeding through the land. He was going faster than any technology he knew of back in his reality and was lost in the moment. He smiled despite himself as he blazed over land. He tore through small bushes in milliseconds, like they were nothing but a stack of styrofoam. They made another jump, crossing to the horizon in seconds and Rep and Zalan looked upon the town a few hundred feet ahead of them.

"You think this will be the one?" Zalan asked. He had the same question every time they came to the walls of a new city.

"It had better be," Rep said seriously.

Zalan looked at him, confused by his tone. Rep was staring down at the crumbling Artifact on Zalan's hip. His Belt of Bolt had degraded, turning into dust as they stared. Zalan ran a hand through his hair as he exhaled in disappointment.

"Where's the next nearest town to this one? Could we walk if they're close enough?" Zalan asked, brushing dust off his clothes.

"I do not know. The Belt of Bolt travel has thrown off my sense of direction. However, I do know that most towns are at least a few days' worth of travel from one another."

"Yeah, then this had better be the place with that Nature Elemental," Zalan said. They had been traveling at such incredible speeds that he couldn't bear the idea of having to walk to the next town if this one was a bust.

They picked up their pace, feeling somewhat urgent about their need to confirm the Elemental's presence. They were jogging at the last hundred feet before reaching the entrance of the town's short wall. The town looked rather small and quaint compared to most others. They only had a single guard stationed over the gate.

The walls shared space with tall trees dotted along the side of them. The base was a wet brown mud, indicating that it had rained in the area recently. Zalan got a good breath of trees and flowers. The area had none of the dry atmosphere that Oriton had. Even without being able to see beyond the walls, it felt much more life-bearing to Zalan. Plants could grow easily. It was further made obvious by the weeds pulling at his feet as he stepped through them to the base of the gate.

"Is there a Nature Elemental nearby?" Zalan asked immediately.

The guard grew a wide grin in amusement.

"Not if the Magnanimous One has anything to say about it," he chuckled. "Any news from beyond our town?" He sounded as though he was trying to remain professional through a suppressed laugh.

Rep and Zalan looked at one another. They were both confused by his reply and wondering how to respond to his question.

"Strange news about the Flame Elemental at the volcano to the west of here. It stopped appearing," Rep answered honestly.

"Odd, it is usually the most consistent of any Elemental," the guard replied.

"Who is the Magnanimous One?" Zalan asked.

"Someone who came descending down from the heavens," the guard replied, sounding annoyed and unimpressed by his own sentence. "I am almost certain he carried a Drop Coin and wished to force a dramatic entrance. He demanded to know where the nearest Elemental was. He called himself the Magnanimous One," the guard explained.

"You sound rather indifferent toward him," Rep assessed.

"He claimed he could clear the Nature Elemental and the excess pollen it was producing in the area. We all know it is an annoyance, but there is no way to bargain with Elementals. We have nothing they want! Yet, somehow he convinced good people of this town that it could be done. They went to watch his methods," he guard said, bored.

Rep and Zalan exchanged an urgent glance.

"What do you mean 'clear' the Elemental?" Zalan prodded.

"They were his words, not mine," the guard shrugged.

"Where is this Elemental? Is it nearby? We are in urgent need to see it. Immediately," Rep said quickly.

A look of greed crossed the guard's eyes, a slight smile growing.

"Yes! Yes, it is behind the town. But the town can be such a hassle to find your way through. We have a secret entrance for guards of the city that I can introduce you to. I can let you through the guard's path for a… gold coin. It will save you about ten minutes of travel," the guard said.

"A gold coin? It can not take a whole of ten minutes to cross the city," Rep protested.

"It is a very narrow series of residences. You may even find yourselves getting lost in town and having to pay someone to guide you," the guard assured him.

"What about two silver?" Rep asked.

"Don't barter with the guy, just pay him," Zalan said quietly to Rep.

"I think he expects to barter. He knows a gold coin is much too high for this service," Rep explained.

"I don't care, we don't need to waste the time when we have funds to spare," Zalan said.

He turned back up to the guard.

"We'll pay, just get us over there," Zalan said, pulling a gold coin from his pocket and waving it above his head.

The guard's teeth gleamed at the sight, his eyes wide in pleasant surprise. He rushed down the wall and pulled a lever to open the gate and let the duo in. Zalan realized this was the first time he'd seen a guard working entirely on his own. Most had someone on the ground to open and close the gate, receiving orders from the one above. It must have been a small town. Perhaps enough that something as innocuous as a pollen problem became a huge deal for the inhabitants.

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Rep and Zalan ran within. The guard held out his hand expectantly. Zalan reached out his arm, but Rep stopped him suddenly.

"Lead the way, then you will have earned your gold," Rep said, giving Zalan a look. Zalan nodded and tucked the gold away. The guard frowned.

"Very well," he accepted with a hint of chagrin.

To Rep and Zalan's surprise, the guard didn't move toward the city. Instead, he turned back to the wall and pushed a pressure point, activating a mechanism to reveal a door in the wall. The guard waved them in, then charged ahead without waiting.

He ran through the walls, rushing to earn his gold. Rep and Zalan made so many winding turns, Zalan began to believe that it was actually worth it to pay for the shortcut. The town seemed like it could be a confusing mess if you didn't know where you were going. But added to it was the fact that the space inside the walls was claustrophobic and narrow at most points. Zalan would have to duck and shimmy as often as he ran, and he could barely keep up with their guide.

Finally, the guard slammed against a blank piece of the inner wall. He placed his hand lightly on the wall and turned back to them. He eyed them closely.

"Through here and then head straight until you reach the watering hole. It is difficult to miss," the guard said. "But pay first, or I—"

"Yeah, whatever, here," Zalan dropped the gold coin into his hand.

The guard breathed joyously and pushed another secret point in the wall. A door appeared and opened, letting in the light from the outside. Zalan didn't even wait for it to open all the way before he ran through the door. Rep sprinted behind him.

For the first few seconds outside, Zalan ran at full speed. It was strange to have traveled around a town instead of through it. He peered and squinted as he searched. He couldn't see any bodies of water in the land behind the town. It just looked like a corridor of plants heading to nowhere. He thought they'd been duped, and looked to Rep who was also staring ahead with intent. Rep pursed his lips as he ran.

"I believe there is something out there. We should move faster. I am going to use the Belt of Bolt to take us both forward," Rep announced.

"Thanks for letting me know," Zalan said, internally groaning at the thought of the oncoming pain.

Rep placed an arm around Zalan's shoulders, then smacked his hip quickly. Zalan felt immediate whiplash and crashed onto the ground after the travel had ceased. He rolled over on the muddy earth, groaning. Rep knelt over him, concerned.

"We have arrived at the oasis, but how are you feeling?" Rep asked.

"It hurts, but I'm good," Zalan said through grit teeth.

They both checked Rep's waist, ensuring the Artifact had not yet degraded. It remained intact, retaining an unknown number of uses. If it had as many uses as Zalan's, then Rep's would only have a single warp remaining.

The watering hole was lush with plants drawing their nutrients from a random spring in the middle of the jungle-like surroundings. Trees shaded them overhead and various bushes spotted the area before them. Zalan was both surprised and disturbed to find bugs crawling among the plantlife. He knew that he shouldn't be concerned about seeing monster Roaches because they were behind city walls, but still checked for them in his immediate vicinity. Zalan could hear murmuring and a commotion happening ahead, deeper into the jungle.

"Help me up," Zalan said, his knees buckling in pain.

"You are certain you are fine?"

"Yeah, don't worry about me. Just try not to hit me with another use of the Belt of Bolt. Now let's go before we miss whatever's going on."

"Do you have the same thought I do?" Rep asked as he pulled him to his feet. "Do you think that this may be the same person who killed the Flame Elemental?"

"Yeah, that's what I've been thinking too. But it would be really weird for him to call himself 'The Magnanimous One,' right?" Zalan said. "Elementals give out powers. He would be taking that away."

"Unless he had some twisted view of magnanimity," Rep said ominously.

Zalan doubted that a whole town of people would be willing to follow someone that delusional to the watering hole, but didn't say as much out loud. He was more focused on getting there and witnessing whatever was supposed to happen. He and Rep moved through the dense brush, hearing a crescendoing commotion from a crowd of people up ahead.

A breeze blew past the two of them and carried with it a voice.

"Nature Elemental!" the voice declared boldly. "I seek your challenge!"

Zalan's heart involuntarily skipped a beat. Something deep within him was reacting viscerally.

They could see a circle of people deeper within and more climbing trees to get a good view of the center. It looked like a show was being put on and they were amazed by the performance. Several people gasped and pointed to the center. It seemed to Zalan that they had arrived right on time and he walked faster.

Rep and Zalan stopped moving forward when a Nature Elemental rose from the center of the crowd. The circle grew wider as the people backed up in fear and apprehension.

The Nature Elemental was a hue of brilliant, ever-changing greens. Going from dark, to light, then back to dark green in a cascading glow like blinds opening and closing in succession. Its robes were made of fine woven spider webs and its hood looked like some form of thin bark over its eyes. Leaves of all colors danced at its feet, drifting down like a constant shedding of leaves for fall.

The Elemental floated above the crowd passively, and Zalan was still intimidated by what it was capable of. The creature looked down on someone that Rep and Zalan couldn't see. It reached a spider-silk arm out and pointed. It spoke words they couldn't hear over the increasingly raucous crowd.

"We need to get in that circle of people," Zalan said.

Rep nodded and they began to push forward. The audience screamed in shock at something happening with the Nature Elemental. Zalan wondered if it had just delivered a challenge. He had to gently push people aside to get himself closer and see what was happening. The nearer he drew to the center, the less gentle he was pushing. People didn't mind when they were enraptured by the spectacle.

In the center of the large circle was a hooded man, his arms raised toward the Nature Elemental. The crowd began to call out toward him.

"Stop! You will bring its anger on our town!"

"We reject your methods of stopping the pollen! You will destroy us all when you bring offense to the creature!"

"You mustn't do anything to the Elemental!"

A swirling energy of mixed powers danced in front of the hooded man's arms. Zalan's eyes widened in a mix of rage and fear. Rep pushed his way next to Zalan and gasped at the sight.

A spiraling energy of Elemental Sand, Fire, Water, Air and Lightning grew into a deadly spearhead. Without warning, the attack blasted forward, tearing violently through the Nature Elemental. The air rippled and cracked around the collection of elements. The audience screeched and gasped in shock. Several covered their eyes with their hands.

There was a hole in the Elemental's chest.

Without much in terms of a reaction, the Nature Elemental fell to the ground. Its robes shimmered, and the leaves went from their multicolored splendor to a pale, dry brown. For a few seconds, everyone watched in shock. The man who attacked placed a foot on top of the Elemental. Rep and Zalan recoiled at the sight. It wasn't supposed to be possible to touch them, but now it looked like it was being disrespected. The man looked around the crowd and raised his arms proudly.

"I told you, I have the power to kill them!" he boomed.

The audience exploded in cheers after having witnessed the impossible. A mere man killed an Elemental. The man turned in a slow circle, smiling as he took in their praise. A wretched purplish black scar etched out of his wrist, like a wound that had been reopened more times than it could bear. It cracked up to the elbow like a sickly version of lightning.

He stopped when he made eye contact with Zalan. They shared a shocked glance, both men frozen in place. The man who could kill Elementals was the same who stole Zalan's lightning.

It was none other than Morloch.