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

"Morloch?" Zalan acknowledged in shock and anger.

"Is that the true name of the Magnanimous One?" a crowd member asked.

"Yeah, that's Morloch," Zalan said, somewhat confirming the information to himself.

"Morloch is the name of our savior!" a crowd member called out, the others cheering in delight at the new information.

Morloch looked enraged at the revelation of his name. His eyes narrowed on Rep and Zalan.

"Zalan, we must leave now. Activate the Homeseeker," Rep said immediately.

"Make way for me! Quickly, there are monsters hidden in our midst!" Morloch demanded, pointing to Rep and Zalan. "They disguise themselves as fellow men!"

Morloch's order got people moving immediately. The once-excited audience screamed and began running around in panic. Most couldn't tell which two people Morloch was pointing at and began to suspect every member of the audience to be a potential monster. They ran into one another and threw punches in pure pandemonium. With powerful bursts of air, Morloch threw anyone who got too close out of his way. He had lost sight of Rep and Zalan and walked forward to close the distance between them.

"Zalan!" Rep pulled him by his tunic.

"How did Morloch, of all people, kill an Elemental?" Zalan asked, feeling like he was out of his mind.

"Zagnon! Let us finish what must be done!" Morloch said, raising his arms.

His sleeves fell slightly and Zalan took another glance at the edge of the purple scar on his wrist. It was one that matched his own for using the Transfer Table on the Island of Remains, except several times more grotesque. A powerful ball of energy manifested in front of Morloch, ready to strike despite the large number of people remaining in the area.

"I apologize in advance, Zalan," Rep said urgently.

Zalan suddenly felt his whole body sucked backward by a powerful force, the world bending around him at an incredible speed. His eyes remained wide with bewilderment at the sight of the world blurring around him. Rep pulled him with the help of the Belt of Bolt. Zalan was too distracted by the thought of Morloch to register the pain he would soon feel. He then collapsed in pain at the edge of the jungle, coughing in agony as he gripped his sore ribs.

"I am sorry, Zalan, but we needed to move before he struck. Where is the Homeseeker?" Rep asked.

"That was Morloch," Zalan said in disbelief. "How?"

"Zalan, where is the Homeseeker?" Rep was kneeling over his injured friend, rifling through his pocket.

"How did he get here so fast? He's supposed to be stuck on the Island of Remains! He's going around calling himself the Magnanimous One now?" Zalan demanded.

"Zalan! The Homeseeker!" Rep commanded.

Zalan finally snapped to his senses and nodded. He pulled the Homeseeker from his other pocket and tossed it to Rep. He saw the stress lines on Rep's face as he fumbled the Artifact. It fell to the ground. Rep let out a frustrated groan as he scrambled to get a hold of it.

"You used the Belt of Bolt! Didn't we already get away? Why are you so worried?" Zalan asked.

Rep simply pointed. Zalan turned in confusion. The base of the waterhole was a mushroom cloud of dust and leaves with a figure rocketing into the area above. Zalan followed the line of dust to the sky. Up high in the air, a figure was flying around with the assistance of Elemental Air Power. Morloch was looking for them.

Zalan turned back to Rep as he finally got a hold of the Homeseeker. Rep's hip was a smatter of dust, his Belt of Bolt having just degraded and disintegrated. The Homeseeker was their only means of escape.

Rep activated the Homeseeker and held on to Zalan. They both began to glow a faint black shine. While it was good for knowing the Artifact was working, it also acted as a signal beacon to the man searching from the sky. Morloch immediately locked on to their location and began flying down. It would take about ten seconds for them to be transported back to Journey House by means of the Homeseeker. Rep shook the Artifact with urgency, hoping to rush it. With no other ideas, Zalan held out his sword and pointed it toward the oncoming Morloch.

Sparks of lightning began spinning around Morloch as he descended at impressive speed. He was using Elemental Wind at his back while forming a large ball of Elemental Sand ahead of him. The growing ball of sand was spinning with lightning and flame, quickly growing too bright to look at. Zalan could see the intended use. Morloch was going to send down an Elemental meteor made of sand, lightning, and fire. He was still desperate to kill them as brutally as possible.

"Hurry!" Rep shouted at the Homeseeker.

Morloch screamed a war cry as he threw the massive ball of sand swirling in fire and lightning. It was the size of a house, and coming at them with incredible speed. Zalan lowered his sword in fear, knowing his blade would have no effect on such an immense projectile.

"I will try to stop it. Perhaps I can redirect the flame within the attack! Do not let go of this," Rep placed the Homeseeker in Zalan's hand and began to stand.

Zalan grasped tightly to Rep and pulled him back down. If they weren't making contact, the Homeseeker wouldn't take them both. Zalan couldn't let Rep step away.

"I'm not leaving without you," Zalan said.

He didn't want to say the rest of what was on his mind. If Rep died and Zalan survived, he would never be able to live with himself. He knew he was already teetering on the edge of despair and the loss of his closest friend would be enough to take him over. To his relief, Rep didn't fight back. He nodded while biting his lip. They looked at the Homeseeker for an instant, but their attention quickly returned to the oncoming ball of death.

The flaming sand projectile overshadowed the sun as the Homeseeker reached a loud whine. Rep and Zalan braced themselves, ducking their heads low as the oncoming shadow engulfed them. Rep raised a hand from their crouched position and tried to redirect it to no avail. The electricity running through it brought all of the hairs on Zalan's body to stand tall. Zalan closed his eyes, fearing the Homeseeker would be a second too late.

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Zalan was struck in the head by the meteor.

Less than an instant later, he blinked out of sight with Rep.

Zalan awoke in bed, looking around in a daze. For a few seconds, he wasn't sure where he was, before recognizing the inside of Journey House. Rep was standing over him with a bloody cloth in hand. Zalan was struggling to catch up to why they were back home, his memories hazy. He couldn't remember anything after seeing the dead Nature Elemental.

"What happened?" Zalan asked.

"Morloch's oncoming attack knocked you unconscious just as the Homeseeker brought us back. If it had taken even a split second longer, the elements would have crushed us into a fine paste. You were already unconscious when you arrived, so the Healing Rest began to take immediate effect," Rep said.

Zalan realized the blood in Rep's palm must have come from a wound that just healed. His hand had been outstretched before they were transported to safety. Both Rep and Zalan were certain to have died if they didn't return directly to the guild beds. The wounds they sustained in the first moment of impact could have been enough to kill them.

"Morloch," Zalan said, sitting up as his memories reconnected the dots. "Morloch killed an Elemental! How did he do that?"

Rep sat on the end of Zalan's cot and thought. Zalan brought himself to sit upright and joined in thought. Zalan kept shaking his head at each idea that came to his mind. Rep seemed frozen on a single notion.

"I have a theory, but I do not know how much merit it holds," Rep admitted.

"Well I got nothing, so a farfetched theory works for me," Zalan encouraged.

"Do you recall reading about Elementals and Ascended Beings?"

"I… remember reading about Elementals. I don't remember anything about ascended stuff."

"Ascended Beings were brought up very rarely in our reading. They were said to be able to interact with Elementals. At the time, I thought it was an innocuous misnomer. Anyone could 'interact' with an Elemental by communicating with it. But my theory is that this interaction was something much more. An Ascended Being can touch an Elemental. And if they can interact with them in that sense, I suspect they can kill them, as well," Rep said.

"So," Zalan's eyebrows furled. "Does that mean Morloch isn't even human? He's some ascended monster being?"

"The book on Elementals said that one became an Ascended Being when they acquired five different Elemental Powers," Rep said.

Zalan's eyes widened in recognition.

"That was why he was so adamant about getting me to use the Transfer Table. That was why he was so focused on traveling with me. He just became ascended. Right after he took my power," Zalan concluded.

Rep nodded gravely.

"And he's using his newfound ability to… kill Elementals?" Zalan surmised in bafflement.

"So that none other may gain enough power to become ascended," Rep guessed.

"I know he always hated the way some people used their Elemental Power, but… I never thought he would go this far!" Zalan said.

"I suspect this has little to do with an idea of his dislike of those he sees as lesser. Did you see the way he looked after killing the Elemental? I had never seen him so excited. Killing untouchable beasts could be the thrill he lives for," Rep added.

Zalan stared up at the ceiling and lay back down on the cot, taking in the information. Morloch had a plan from the beginning. Zalan was so caught up in thinking that Morloch just wanted to be able to smite people with Elemental Lightning, he thought of nothing else as the end goal. Morloch was trying to rid the realm of Elementals.

"He's trying to change his reputation too," Zalan pointed out. "Sounds like he's going by 'The Magnanimous One.' He's threatened by our shared past where we can tell people his actual name."

Rep slowly nodded as he accepted Zalan's theory. Zalan shuddered at the thought.

"He does not seem fond of his name 'Morloch,'" Rep agreed.

"Well, this ruins a lot of our plans," Zalan sighed, swinging his legs over the side of the cot and sitting up. "Two Elementals are dead. Where are we supposed to find another one?"

Rep looked slightly concerned. He weighed words before sharing them.

"We know that Morloch is hunting down Elementals. And now we know he is hunting us down," Rep said.

"Right, so?" Zalan said.

Rep sighed, having to spell it out more clearly.

"It seems like it would serve his purposes for us to be found in the presence of an Elemental. Are you certain it is the best idea to be going to the beings he wishes to destroy?" Rep inquired carefully.

"Yeah, I need an Elemental Power," Zalan said as though it was obvious.

"Perhaps we can focus on getting you out of this realm before Morloch locates you and tries to kill you once more," Rep suggested, trying to nudge Zalan's one-track mind.

Zalan felt a wave of guilt crash into his heart. He knew that home should have been more important to him than all the things going on in the realm. He was supposed to visit his mom. But he didn't want to return to his life of problems. He needed to escape that life just a little longer. Escape all the problems he was encumbered with.

"No, there's nothing for me back home. Let me get the Elemental Power and then we can think about whatever it takes to go home," Zalan said firmly.

Rep frowned, trying to think of something more to say. Zalan was staring at the ceiling in thought, looking distant. Rep knew he would have a hard time pushing the issue. Zalan's state of mind was precarious these past few days, and he didn't want to try and veer his path when he was enthused about something. Anything to keep him out of his bedridden lull.

"Very well," Rep allowed hesitantly. "We will go and find you another Elemental. If you insist, that is."

"Yeah, I do," Zalan said, standing from the thin mattress confidently. "How are we gonna find another one, though? Do you know about any others? Especially ones we can get to without something crazy fast like a Belt of Bolt? The only Elemental whose location I know is the one under the island. I don't know if we could even make it back to the Bright Elemental I saw at the Island of Remains."

Rep and Zalan stood in silence. They were both thinking about Captain Buttonwillow and his crew. As far as they knew, he was still stranded on the island. And they had no means to get off. Somehow, Zalan felt like Captain Buttonwillow would figure out a way home on his own. He seemed to have the ingenuity when it came to things going on at sea.

"I do not know of any other Elementals off the top of my head, but I have a plan. One that I have a good feeling will work," Rep said.

Zalan looked at Rep's knowing smile and got a feeling he knew exactly where this was going. He sighed, not having any better ideas come to mind.

"Is the plan to ask Madam Hikma?" Zalan said dryly.

"The plan is to ask Madam Hikma!" Rep said enthusiastically.

They opened the door to exit the guild, only to be surprised by how dark it was outside. The shadows were long and the sun had just merged with the horizon.

"Did we… run through time zones? And now that we warped back, it's evening or something?" Zalan asked, not even considering that as part of his speed with the Belt of Bolt.

"Time zones? That sounds strange. No, we ran so fast that we outstripped the speed of the sun on another part of the realm," Rep shook his head.

"Okay, but for the record, you're describing time zones," Zalan said.

"I do not know which record you refer to," Rep responded, amused by the terms from Zalan's homeworld.

They stared at the sunset for a few seconds.

"Madam Hikma's place is closed at this time, isn't it?" Zalan pointed out.

"We shall go see her first thing in the morning," Rep said decidedly, heading inside to prepare for sleep.