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

The giant spiders backed away in shock and fear as the Bright Elemental filled the mines with its light. The Depths of Despair's darkness had no effect on the light like it did with Rep's flames, and the shine lit up the entire corridor in the cavern. The Bright Elemental had raised its shining limb, pointing it toward Zalan.

"Run!" Finnegan shrieked in absolute terror of the creature.

"No! Wait!" Zalan said.

"The challenge is complete," the Elemental announced. "My power is yours. Use it across the realm and show all the power of the Bright Elemental."

It remained quiet for a second. If Zalan didn't know any better, he would have said that Elemental was thinking about what to say next. He never imagined they would talk on the fly when everything they said sounded so grand and scripted.

"And, if you have the means," the Bright Elemental continued, "save my fellow Elementals from the calamity hunting them down. Grant them the light that you have found."

Squinting his eyes slightly, Zalan was stunned to hear a request from an Elemental. Before, they felt like being of pure energy who existed on another plane of existence. But this one spoke to him.

"Why me? Aren't there others more powerful who can help?" Zalan asked.

The Elemental didn't reply.

A thin stream of white light shot out like a laser from the Bright Elemental's concealed arm, pouring into Zalan's chest. The jet of light increased in size as it flowed through to his heart. Zalan breathed in deeply, like it was the first breath he could take in days. His limbs and face twitched, jolting with rejuvenation as he was repaired by the newfound power. The ache on the side of his face dulled until it was only an itch. His brain felt alive with thoughts, like he suddenly learned a new language. Before he even attempted to use it, he knew that he had access to Elemental Power once more. Burning in his consciousness, it swirled with energizing essence.

The Elemental lowered its arm and remained suspended in the air ahead of him, watching him closely. The spiders were several feet away now, prowling at the edge of the light in wait for the Elemental to disappear. Their onslaught of attacks had come to a complete halt, their apprehension clear in their quickened movements. They waited for the area to be cast in darkness once more.

"Did you just get an Elemental Power?" Finnegan asked, absolutely astounded.

"Yeah, it's pretty ironic too," Zalan said. "I just came to the conclusion that I could live without one."

"What power?" Finnegan demanded.

Zalan opened his mouth, then closed it and grew a wide smile. He tapped his forefinger to his thumb three times and summoned his stats excitedly. He grinned even wider as he saw the information fill in.

LEVEL: 08

STRENGTH: 08

WISDOM: 13

EXPERIENCE: 24

ELEMENT: LIGHT

Better than he had imagined, his Elemental stat had returned. There were wrinkles around his skin where the scar used to be, but the Bright Elemental's power had healed the wound of its purple hue. His arm was free of the garish disfigurement that he felt carried his shame. Zalan almost leapt for joy, but could see that Finnegan was still looking upon him and the shining creature in fear. The Elemental was watching them silently. That and being in the Depths of Despair probably didn't bode well for his mental capacity.

"Use the power," the Elemental demanded.

Zalan recalled that the Storm Elemental asked the same of him when it first granted him lightning. Zalan nodded to it with respect.

"This is his first Elemental Power! Neither of us know how to use one, give us some time!" Finnegan said, immediately starting to panic.

"Don't worry, I got this."

He reached out his hand and aimed at a spider. Closing one eye, he pulled on the mind-muscle attached to Elemental Powers, willing light to emit. It blasted out like a spotlight, causing the giant spider to shriek and skitter away. It sizzled as it ran, clearly injured by the sheer intensity of the Elemental Light.

"Amazing! You damaged an Arachula without touching it!" Finnegan said.

"So that's what the giant spiders are called," Zalan said to himself.

"You can use the power competently," the Bright Elemental determined. "Farewell."

Zalan placed an arm ahead of Finnegan, protecting him from the expected storm that the leaving Elemental would bring. Zalan braced himself, flexing his body in preparation for the hole of the mines to come down around them. Instead, the Bright Elemental simply began to fade away. The light diminished and it disappeared with a slight blip in space. They were left alone in the abyss. Zalan blinked in surprise, the scuttling of the Arachula filling the space ahead of them.

"That's weird, I thought Elementals always caused a calamity whenever they migrated," Zalan said. "Ah, wait, does that mean they were always doing it on purpose? Or maybe moving around is a lot different than migrating."

"Why do you sound so calm right now?" Finnegan demanded.

Zalan could feel the youngster's growing panic in his fidgeting movement next to him. He placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I thought we were gonna die fighting. This… well, this is a lot better than I thought it would be," Zalan said, smiling.

"Are we not going to die here?" Finnegan asked, hopeful.

"Not if I can help it," Zalan said confidently.

He held out a hand and stretched his palm, reacquainting himself with the feeling of the Elemental Power coursing through his veins. He let out a burst of light, burning through an oncoming wad of web. He tried to redirect it and burn the giant spiders gathered a dozen feet away, but had a hard time with the new power. It was different with Elemental Light than it was with Elemental Lightning. The mind-muscle was familiar, but Zalan was out of practice. He didn't know exactly how to manipulate it like he used to. Still, with what light he emitted, he could tell there were about ten monsters ahead.

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The Arachulas were shrieking, unnerved by the oncoming attack. They stumbled over one another in a pandemonium and rushed forward in a scramble to take down their prey. The lights that Zalan kept turning on and off triggered them to attack. Finnegan yelped in fear and held Zalan's shoulders tightly as he hid behind him. Zalan decided to stop trying to do anything fancy and simply fired beams of light forward with both hands. The Arachulas squealed, burning under the intensity of the light. They retreated a few steps, then ran in circles. They were a mix of blinded and disoriented by his power.

Zalan pursed his lips in thought. With some extra focus, he was able to bring the beams from two spotlights to something more like directed lasers. He pointed the more concentrated rays directly at two spiders. They recoiled much more viscerally, trying to escape the attack. It occurred to Zalan that he was burning through them, like a magnifying glass focusing sunlight over an ant. The two he focused on were dead in seconds.

The most comforting thing about the Elemental Power was that the light cut through the darkness like a honed blade. Zalan could clearly make out the edges and curves of the mines in the darkness and it felt a lot less like a maze. The Arachulas writhed and twitched in pain, none of them able to broach past the light being emitted by Zalan. Zalan appreciated the advice that they got from the older man, Seig. He said that powers that could emit light were necessary to take into the Depths of Despair. Watching the Arachulas stumble in helplessness, it was clear why.

The Arachulas stopped their hissing and twitching as they each rolled over, with legs stiffly pointed at various directions in the air. Zalan continued to point his beams of light at the motionless ones, light narrow spotlights emitting from his palms. When he was certain they were dead, he reduced the flow of his power to something akin to a flashlight.

"You okay?" Zalan asked Finnegan.

Finnegan stared at him, his eyes giant orbs of shock.

"Yes! That was incredible! I have never seen a power like that!" Finnegan exclaimed.

"Let me see if I can figure out how to redirect or imbue," Zalan said.

"What are these words?" Finnegan asked.

Zalan focused his energies on folding the Elemental Light around his body. With an excited energy, he wondered if he could fold the light around him to become completely invisible. After a few seconds of experimentation, he imbued his arm with light. It shined a bright white color, like his arm was made of several LED bulbs. He tried to experiment further and get the light to move in a way that would bend. He stared intently at his arm as he made his attempt. The light remained obstinate straight, not a wiggle to be seen.

"Is your arm burning?" Finnegan asked, concerned.

Zalan lowered his arm, unsuccessful. He couldn't emit anything but bright light. Though the fact he could imbue himself was a considerable consolation prize.

"I'm fine, none of this hurts," Zalan said. "I can imbue myself with the power, but redirecting might take some more work to figure out."

Zalan raised his hand to show it off to Finnegan. Finnegan took a step back, then reached forward with a hand to touch it. Zalan was about to pull it away, then was stunned to see the remains of the webs on Finnegan's body were burning away, while the rest of his body remained unharmed. Zalan allowed Finnegan to come into contact, to see if his hand would pass harmlessly through the light.

"Ow!" Finnegan pulled his arm back sharply, waving it quickly.

"What did that feel like?" Zalan asked. "Did it hurt?"

"Very much so!" Finnegan complained. "It was like touching a heated coal!"

Finnegan stuck his finger in his mouth for an instant, then went back to waving it to cool it down. Zalan understood it to mean he felt like a light bulb that had been left on too long. A powerful heat, especially if concentrated.

"What are we to do now?" Finnegan asked.

"Find a way out of here," Zalan said, looking around them.

"Is that possible? We are deep into the Depths of Despair. When I entered, I ran until I collapsed."

"Uhhh," Zalan spun around in place, trying to look for a sign. "Do you know which way you came in from?"

"I hardly know how long I have been lying there." Finnegan shook his head.

"Hmmm," Zalan ran a hand through his hair then recoiled slightly. He still had the slight remains of a wound on his head, dealt to him when fighting the Earthenbeasts. It was just a scab now, after being somewhat healed. "Oh! I know! Look for blood."

Zalan walked toward the dead spiders, searching the floor closely as he walked.

"Search for blood?" Finnegan repeated, slightly disturbed.

"Yeah, I was bleeding when I came this way. If we find a drop, we should know which way I came from. It might have made a trail," Zalan said.

"You 'might' have? You are not certain," Finnegan said, sounding disappointed.

"I also don't have any better ideas," Zalan said, looking to Finnegan. "Do you?"

Finnegan thought for a second before sighing and shaking his head.

Zalan imbued his entire body with the bright Elemental Light, shining it through the cavern as he enjoyed his new ability. Finnegan was searching the ground closely, kicking aside the dead Arachula bodies. Every few steps, he would turn to look at Zalan with wide eyes. Zalan couldn't find anything on his end and approached Finnegan.

"Why do you keep staring?" Zalan asked.

"You look like a mysterious creature when you are fully wrapped in light. But not a bad one… certainly something unsettling," Finnegan said as he continued to look over Zalan.

Zalan wasn't sure how he was supposed to respond to that. But he liked the idea of being unsettling to monsters. It finally gave him the chance to scare those that used to terrorize him and his friends.

"You are like a Gloomstalker, but made of light instead of darkness," Finnegan added.

"A Gloomstalker?" Zalan asked.

"Oh, be grateful that you have never seen one. It is a creature made of your regrets, even people you know. It gathers all its strengths from all the things in your life you wish you had done better. No one lives without some regrets, and the monster will taunt you with every one it can draw from you. It throws your worst thoughts at you as it attacks you," Finnegan explained. "But it is a colorless monster, only able to appear in a gray form, despite whatever form it takes."

"Oh. That's what that thing was called. My friend Rep and I killed one on our way in here. It took on my form as it fought us," Zalan said.

"You have a lot of regrets?" Finnegan asked.

"More than I like to think about." He immediately thought of Rep smiling as the explosion engulfed him.

Finnegan nodded in both agreement and appreciation at Zalan's honesty. He looked away and the two searched the ground, leaning in closer. They walked in opposite directions, their faces only a foot away from the floor as they searched. Zalan felt like a bloodhound and wished his blood smelt stronger than the cold dank cave.

"Is this your blood?" Finnegan asked skeptically.

Zalan walked over and knelt down. There was a single speck of red on the ground. It was hard to tell between the dark earth surrounding it, but Zalan couldn't determine what else it would be. He put his finger to it, and found that it was still damp. It had to be fresh enough to be from his wound.

"We'll go this way," Zalan pointed.

"This will take us to the way out?" Finnegan asked.

"Eventually. But first we need to find Rep," Zalan said.

He didn't want to admit to Finnegan that they would be searching for a dead body to bury. He wasn't ready to talk about Rep's sacrifice. Finnegan seemed perfectly content with the detour.

"Very well," Finnegan said agreeably. "Find the one that made it so you could find me."

"And then we'll get you back home," Zalan promised.

"Of course you would have the time to visit poor, dead Rep before visiting me," a sinister, feminine voice came from behind them.

Zalan's blood turned to ice and he froze in place. Finnegan swiveled around in fear. He began to shiver.

"It is one of them! A Gloomstalker," Finnegan said urgently.

"I know," Zalan whispered, terrified.

He was stuck in place. He couldn't turn around and face it. He knew exactly what would be looking back at him, but he wasn't ready to see it. He swallowed hard.

"Zalan! It is approaching!" Finnegan shook him.

"I don't…" Zalan shivered, his eyes closed.

"Zalan!"

Finnegan placed both of his hands on his shoulders. Zalan felt himself being turned around. Freezing sweat rolled down his spine. He breathed erratically. Remaining frozen, he forced his eyes open.

Ahead of him stood a gray creature with a twisted expression on its face. A Gloomstalker, taking the form of Zalan's mother.