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

Zalan woke to the sound of the guild door swinging open, Rep making his way inside. As Zalan rubbed his eyes, Rep went to gather funds from under his cot as well as grab his sword. Rolling out of bed, Zalan began to prepare himself for the day.

"Excellent wedding!" Heron told Rep. "I will be full for weeks."

"It was good to arrive in Oriton at just the right time for such a feast," Epanor agreed.

"Are we headed out?" Zalan asked groggily.

"Indeed, if you have the energy."

"Sure. Where to?"

"Out of Oriton."

Stretching his tired shoulders, Zalan looked at Rep for further clarification.

"Okay, but where are we going once we exit Oriton?" Zalan asked after Rep said nothing more.

"I do not know. My wife and her family expect me to leave today to stop the calamitous Morloch. I do not wish to be seen in Oriton any longer than I must be here. They will be disappointed that I am not a man of my word," Rep said, a hint of urgency in his voice.

"I feel like you don't need to worry about your impression on her and her family after having completed the marriage," Zalan said, trying to assuage him.

Rather than receive a grateful smile, Zalan got an odd look from Rep. It was as though Zalan had just uttered the single stupidest thing Rep had ever heard. Zalan cleared his throat self-consciously and moved to the guild door to lead the way out. Rep followed him outside. They both breathed in the early morning air, thin rays of sunshine creeping over the eastern horizon.

"Do we at least have, like, a general destination?" Zalan asked.

"I think we can begin our search for Gorb."

"Ok, great, do you know where he lives?"

"He never once mentioned it to me." Rep shook his head.

"So much for that," Zalan sputtered.

"However," Rep said, suddenly inspired by a thought. "We can ask the guards on the walls!"

"We can?"

"Many of them are former members of guilds. Sir Rolcoth spent many a day with Gorb. Or perhaps Sir Kilile recalls something Fran told him."

"Sounds good enough of a plan to me," Zalan said, making his way to a wall.

Rep led the way by the sheer length of his stride. There was an excited energy in his steps that Zalan had never seen before, like he was glowing after the events of the previous day. They only made it a few steps before Rep began to speak again.

"Did you enjoy the festivities?" he asked.

"Yeah, I had a great time. I mostly stuck around Captain Buttonwillow and his crew. He was saying that he never got us a gift to repay us for The Aegeusson. He offered me his crew to go with us to Aetheria, but I politely declined."

"That was for the best. I can not ask people to get involved when they do not understand the full story of what we intend to do. If they had time to become more informed, perhaps I could see their powers as being quite useful," Rep considered.

"Elemental Sand, sure," Zalan agreed. "I'm not so sold on how Elemental Water is gonna help us in a city in the sky."

"Have you forgotten that Morloch has power over Elemental Water?" Rep asked.

Frowning, Zalan let his silence answer the question. He continued to move especially fast to keep up with Rep's long steps. When again met with a few seconds of silence, Rep broke it with more questions.

"How was the food? Do you think others enjoyed their time?"

"Rep, it was great. Everyone had a great time. Even you and Junill looked like you had a great time. I've been to a few weddings before where the bride and groom looked way more stressed," Zalan replied.

"Junill is an incredible woman. I can not wait to return once we send you home," Rep said confidently.

His speed suddenly slowed, his eyes cast downward. Zalan threw him a confused glance, but Rep was lost in the moment.

"You don't want to leave your new wife, huh?" Zalan asked, reading his expression.

"It is not that. I wish to remain by her side, yes, but I am thinking more about you."

"What about me?" Zalan asked.

"We will soon be sending you home. I may never see you again. I do not think I reflected on that outcome. Even in the best case, our lives would go on without one another."

Zalan blinked in thought. He hadn't considered going home as a possible negative outcome before. But now that they knew they needed to defeat Morloch to go home, it felt more real. Beat the Elemental Killer, take his Rings of Range, and use the Homeseeker.

They just had one more big fight to finish it all. Tilting his head to one side, Zalan shrugged.

"I guess we just have to accept that," Zalan said.

Rep smirked, looking up at Zalan.

"You seem to have become very familiar with the idea of acceptance."

Zalan scoffed, not sure how he was supposed to reply to that. Arriving at the nearest walls, Rep and Zalan looked up to the guard at the top. Peering, Rep seemed to be trying to ascertain whether he knew the man.

"Sir Kilile?" Rep called up, uncertain who it was.

The guardsman waved Rep and Zalan off, but didn't turn. The duo looked at one another in slight confusion.

"Sir! Whoever you are! We have a question!" Rep asked.

"Not now!" the guard snapped.

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Rep blinked, his head shaking slightly in shock.

"That is Sir Kilile," Rep mentioned to Zalan. "He has never spoken to me like that."

Zalan looked back up to scrutinize the man. Frozen in place. Focused in one sole direction.

"Pretty sure he's looking at something," Zalan mused.

Rep looked up, then back down and nodded.

"Something must be beyond the walls," Rep agreed.

Zalan tilted his head in a gesture to a nearby ladder.

"That ladder is limited to the guards who may climb the walls. Those who have earned the title of 'Sir' or 'Lady' only," Rep informed him.

"Yeah, well, we walk with Ma's authority. Do you think we would be turned away from the walls?" Zalan asked.

Rep immediately shook his head. Moving first, Zalan grabbed the rungs and pulled himself up the ladder. Once he climbed above, he looked at Sir Kilile to see how he would react. Instead, he saw only a man holding a statuesque pose, his eyes peering and his neck leaning as far forward as it could go.

"Sound the alarm!" Sir Kilile called over his shoulder. "Monster on the horizon!"

Rep stepped next to Zalan, and the two of them gazed as far as they could see to the horizon. Zalan couldn't make out anything in particular, nothing but the warm, arid land beyond the city and a tall green hill. Zalan blinked, realizing there were no hills that close to Oriton.

"What is that?" Zalan asked.

Bells blared behind him and Sir Kilile began throwing signal flames into the sky, spreading them like fireworks. Looking up, Zalan was beginning to grow wary of the display. He turned around and saw residents of Oriton hurrying about the streets, fleeing from open areas. Panic was creeping its way into the atmosphere.

"Rep, does it always get like this when a monster shows up? I've never seen a city like this before," Zalan said.

"Guards are intended to take care of the monster they can deal with silently." Rep's eyes were locked onto the form that was moving toward them. "But something this powerful requires them to alert others. No one man could take that creature on. It is a Beast of Slumber. A Swampstomp."

Zalan looked back out to the horizon. The creature was massive, at least three stories tall. With a curved neck and round head, it looked like a cursed mix between a frog and a fish, with arms and legs attached. Dripping off the ends of every piece of the creature were pieces of vines and wet greenery, as though a bog had risen to life and began walking. Black orbs of tar fit into its eyes and its full attention was on Oriton. Even at hundreds of feet of distance, Zalan could hear it take a ponderous step.

"We can take it, right? The three of us?" Zalan asked.

Rep shrugged, but looked skeptical.

"You two!" Sir Kilile noticed they stood near him. "Your stats!"

"I am Level 8, and my friend Zalan Level 10," Rep reported.

"All your stats! Anything less than 10 Strength will never do it harm! The same goes for less than 10 Wisdom!" Sir Kilile said.

Zalan tapped his index finger to his thumb and displayed his wrist as the invisible calligrapher wrote out each of his stats.

LEVEL: 10

STRENGTH: 11

WISDOM: 16

EXPERIENCE: 10

ELEMENT: LIGHT

Rep quickly did the same:

LEVEL: 08

STRENGTH: 09

WISDOM: 13

EXPERIENCE: 65

ELEMENT: FIRE

"Level 10 numbers, we can use. The Level 8 numbers however… Perhaps you should go find shelter, Rep," Sir Kilile informed him.

"I will be doing no such thing," Rep answered.

Sir Kilile nodded grimly.

"Good to see you have gained some courage with those Levels! The Rep I traveled to the volcano with would have at least had to think about it before answering."

"Sir," Rep said, "Why is a Swampstomp so far from its homeland? They are not hunters, they never leave the bogs they are born within."

"Not unless their bogs are destroyed by an Elemental," Sir Kilile replied.

The three men stared at the creature, the story becoming clear. Morloch's killings had caused several Elementals to migrate, causing massive disasters to take place across the realm. Monsters were being brought out from the far ends of their home, roaming where they would never have visited before. Judging by the size of the Swampstomp, Zalan considered that there may have been many monsters he had never heard of slumbering in their homes. He wondered how dangerous it was outside the walls of cities these days. Suddenly, the fact he killed the Mind of Madness felt a lot less significant.

"Do not be fooled by its size," Sir Kilile told them. "Its vines move so quickly that you would think it a different creature entirely. Can you imbue your blades or yourselves?"

"Both," Zalan nodded.

"Good. It is very difficult to sink your sword into a Swampstomp without your power flowing through it. Do either of you have Elemental Plant Power? You may be able to redirect its vines," Sir Kilile said.

"No, neither of us. Didn't you just check our stats?" Zalan said.

"Right…" Sir Kilile said, his face serious. "I apologize, I am quite nervous about this."

"We each have good control over our power, even with no Elemental Plant," Rep said.

"Very well, that is better than no power at all," Sir Kilile nodded.

Wind puffed from behind the three, and another guard landed next to Sir Kilile.

"Rolcoth," Sir Kilile acknowledged.

"Is that a Swampstomp? I heard the dangerous monsters were becoming more common, but I never expected to see a Beast of Slumber come to a city so close to the sea," Sir Rolcoth shook his head.

"Is anyone else on their way?" Sir Kilile asked.

"This isn't enough? We're all pretty high Level, right?" Zalan asked.

"If what we know about these monsters is true, this is not nearly enough", Sir Kilile said.

Zalan swallowed hard, an uncertain frown creasing his cheeks.

"I saw one of Ma's guards rushing to inform her of the alarm you sounded. One can hope she will send us reinforcements," Sir Rolcoth reported.

"And Lady Seraphina?"

"She was standing guard in front of Madam Hikma's building," Sir Rolcoth said.

Sir Kilile pursed his lips, nodding a silent assent for extra protection for the old wise woman.

"Shall I go gather members of the guild?" Sir Rolcoth asked.

"Yes. We need Heron here. I hear he out surpassed us in Levels after hunting a Leviathan recently," Sir Kilile said.

"He is going to get himself killed going off on those quests for more Levels," Sir Rolcoth said.

"As will we if we only have the four of us to defend this city," Sir Kilile suggested.

Sir Rolcoth took the hint and jumped off the wall with a massive burst of Elemental Air, arcing toward a set of buildings hundreds of feet away.

"Take care not to get injured by this creature," Sir Kilile said. "Anything too serious will cause the others to have to protect you."

Zalan instinctively gripped tightly to the Homeseeker in his pocket.

"But if one of us gets hurt, we could just hop back in the city and do a Healing Rest and come back out to help, right?" Zalan asked.

"With most monsters, yes. But something this large could break the walls if given enough time in its vicinity. We must go confront it," Sir Kilile said, walking calmly to grab a spear leaning against the wall.

"I get that, but I have a Homeseeker. If it gets bad enough, I could just warp someone back home to heal," Zalan said.

"If it gets bad enough, there will be no Healing Rest possible," Sir Kilile responded, gripping his weapon tightly.

"You mean that thing could destroy the whole city?" Zalan asked.

"Given enough time. But it only needs to destroy the walls," Sir Kilile responded.

"What do you mean?"

"The Healing Rest is miraculous, but it can only be experienced in places of safety," Rep chimed in. "The walls of Oriton are what gives it that safety. If even one part of it falls, it could render the residents unable to access the Healing Rest."

Zalan blinked, shocked. The gravity of the situation had finally sunk in on him. Every single person in Oriton was in serious danger. All wounds would be much more serious, even fatal where only a simple rest would protect them before.

"Let us go before it gets too close," Sir Kilile said, making his way to the ladder.

As he waited for the guard to descend, Zalan gave another glance at the Swampstomp. Another ponderous step shook the realm, its vines swaying aimlessly on its body. But its movement was very deliberately directed toward Oriton. It was on a gradual rampage, ready to take out an entire population, and Zalan wasn't sure they would be able to slow it down.