Although hidden deep inside the forest, the cathedral towers over its surrounding city. All the houses are constantly watched by the big eye at the center of the building’s symbol. It is almost overwhelming to walk down the street with that frightening edification glaring at every passer-by. Standing at the city gates, the four adventurers gaze upon the cathedral.

  “Did Providence’s symbol really have to be that spooky?” Rose comments.

  “I have seen it so many times… I have grown used to it,” Aira responds.

  “So… The Supreme lives there?” Erthilind asks.

  “Precisely.”

  “Well, we just gotta go in and ask him for a traveling pass. Piece of cake.” Rose is happy; she’s itching to get to her destination, but she’s enjoying the journey.

  The four enter the city. As per usual, the princess greets everyone who crosses their path. This place is something new for Scarlet: a big, yet calm city, with no vehicles, less shops, and kind, humble people roaming the streets; no one seems too focused on their job and they seem to enjoy the little things in life.

  An excited Rose swings the cathedral doors open. Inside, there’s plenty of people, some praying, some cleaning, and a young woman standing behind a counter. Aira greets her.

  “It’s been a while, Airaiel.” The woman smiles at her. “Are you visiting the Supreme?”

  “Precisely, thank you kindly.” Aira has tensed up at the sound of her full name, which Erthilind takes notice of.

  The young woman leaves the counter to go look for the Supreme. While they wait, a familiar face approaches them, with both of his eyes closed.

  “Princess, funny seeing you here,” Larian says.

  “Larian! What a coincidence.”

  “What a coincidence indeed. And I see you’ve made some new friends.”

  “Yeah, I’m adding members to the team.”

  “It’s always good to have allies.”

  “Would you like to join, by any chance?”

  “Thank you for the offer, truly, but I have a job to do, and that one does pay me.”

  The two share a laugh. Aira asks herself when those two became such good friends.

  “This is Scarlet, and that’s Erthilind.” Both the girls greet Larian and shake his hand. After each handshake, Larian rests his hand on his chest, which the girls find curious.

  “What are you doing here?” the princess asks, smiling.

  “I came to see the Supreme.”

  Scarlet snorts when the word ‘see’ leaves Larian’s mouth. Erthilind gently hits her on the head so that the assassin will stop embarrassing them.

  “Do you two know each other?” Aira butts in, curious about his relationship with someone so important.

  “Yes, I’ve worked for him a few times.”

  “Speaking of, what’s your job? You’re always saying you’re getting paid, but never for what,” Rose says, having only heard him say that one single time in her life.

  “My technique allows me to teleport to places I’ve been before. It has a lot of conditions, but none which affect my passengers.”

  The four girls nod. It makes sense; someone with such a useful technique must be highly sought all over the continent. Rose tells him about their adventures until the receptionist returns.

  A tall, slim and pale man walks after her. His white robes slide over the floor. Even compared to Erthilind, the tallest one in the group, that man is huge, like a tower. His face is thin and serious, with pointy ears. His blue-eyed stare grazes the girls and stops at Aira.

  “Airaiel? Are you still…” The Supreme’s soft voice stops dead in its tracks. “What are you doing here?”

  “‘Sup, Sups.” Larian waves at him, smiling.

  “Oh… great, you’re here.” He narrows his eyes, a disgusted stare pointed toward the messenger; his expression oozes annoyance. “Wait for me at my chambers, Larian. I’ll join you once I’m done with them.”

  “Thanks, Sups. See you.”

  “If you call me ‘Sups’ again, I’ll kill you.”

  “I’d like to see you try.”

  The Supreme’s glare finds Larian’s closed eyes. For a moment, homicidal intentions fill the air. Everyone in the cathedral turns around to watch the two. The messenger walks past the elvish-looking man, shoulders almost brushing, in what could be seen as a mocking gesture.

  “Everything alright between you two?” asks Rose, while Aira punches her arm and stares hard at her.

  “None of your business. Now, what do you need from me?”

  Aira kneels down before him, then speaks.

  “Lord Supreme, may you be so kind as to grant us a traveling pass to enter Bellum?”

  “And what do you intend to do in Bellum?”

  “There is someone we must help.”

  “And why should I help you?”

  “Because it would allow us to destroy the abyss.”

  The Supreme falls silent for a moment. That seems to have piqued his interest.

  “Alright, I will give you that pass. But there is one condition.”

  “What do you need from us?” asks Rose. She’s seen enough of her father’s negotiations to know what this kind of condition entails.

  “I am preparing a ritual, and I need the heart of a monster. I want you to go to the dark forest and kill a hydra for me.”

  Aira’s eyes open wide, and she glares at the elvish man. Entering the dark forest is a death sentence. The Supreme’s eyes shine with what Aira reads as wickedness.

  “No wa–”

  “Of course. Let’s go, girls.” Rose turns around to leave. Even the Supreme is left puzzled.

  “Rosy, wait a second.” The grinning assassin grabs her by the arm. “Don’t you think we should all discuss it together?”

  “But… if we don’t get the pass, it’ll be impossible to get inside Bellum.”

  “The pinkhead is right,” the Supreme clarifies. “If you want to get through the wall without a pass, you will die trying.”

  “Alright, then.” Erthilind rests a hand on Aira’s shoulder. With her gaze alone, the knight conveys a sense of security. “We’ll get you that heart. But you will give us that pass as soon as we get back here.”

  “That sounds fair to me. Sania, prepare a traveling pass for these four girls, immediately.”

  The young woman nods and goes fetch the papers behind the counter.

  Rose and the Supreme seal the deal with a firm handshake. The four adventurers leave the cathedral.

  As soon as the doors close behind them, both Erthilind and Scarlet say in unison:

  “We have to kill that guy.”

  Scarlet perks up; they’re thinking the same thing. Erthilind deflates; she’s starting to think like that nutcase.

  “I was gonna say we should teach him a lesson; you always take it too far,” Rose says.

  “That guy is scheming something, I’m sure he’s a super villain or something,” Erthilind responds.

  “I just didn’t like him much,” the redhead says.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  The other three stare at her. Is she alright in the head? When they realize it’s Scarlet they’re talking about, they relax. No. No, she’s not alright in the head.

  At the top room of the cathedral, Larian drinks some tea. The Supreme enters the room, irritated.

  “So, you sent them to the dark forest.”

  “How do you… You know what? I don’t care. Yes, they won’t bother me again.”

  “Don’t underestimate that princess.”

  “Don’t tell me what to do, imbecile.”

  “I’m not telling you what to do; I’m giving you a piece of advice,” Larian says, and sips on his tea.

  “You came here to be a smartass or to receive your assignment?”

  “Both.”

  “Damn it, I hate you so much.”

  The adventurers’ steps alert the forest creatures of their presence. Crows and swallows watch them. Rose’s whistling can be heard through the grove.

  “Why the whistling, Rosy?” Scarlet asks, curious.

  “Nothing… Just… force of habit. I just hope a friend knows I’m alright.”

  “Is it because of Balrog?” Aira joins the conversation.

  “Yeah, it’s for Balrog.”

  They keep moving forward, deeper into the forest. The deeper they go, the bigger the trees are, their branches thicker and stronger, and their leaves more plentiful.

  Bathed in moonlight, two weapons clash. Valor’s tips give off sparks when they slide against Scarlet’s reinforced-blood weapon. Erthilind watches their training battle from her seat on a stump.

  “You’re still way too stiff, Rosy. You have to improvise a ‘lil.”

  “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “You fight like you’re being told exactly what to do in each situation.”

  “Well, the manuals told me.”

  “You have to mix what you already know with whatever pops into your head in the moment. Isn’t that right, Erthy?”

  “I’ll smash your face with a rock if you ever call me ‘Erthy’ again. But Miss Crazy is right; if you’re only following a guidebook, it’s easier for your adversary to guess what you’re gonna do next. My whole fighting style is based on predicting my opponent; you would be easy to read.”

  The princess ponders this. What do they mean by ‘improvise’? Aren’t the manuals written precisely because they work?

  “Besides,” Scarlet adds, “you have to learn to mix your technique with your fighting style.”

  “Oh, I hadn’t thought about that. But, isn’t my technique… too simple? I mean, how am I supposed to adapt my fighting style to something that activates while I’m fighting normally?”

  “That’s something you’ll have to figure out,” the Iron Maiden answers. “When I discovered my technique, I struggled a lot to get used to using it in combat.”

  “Really? I thought your technique was pretty simple to use, controlling the ground,” the princess says.

  “It sounds basic, but it has some conditions I have to fulfill. I have to be in contact with the ground, and every time I want to do something, I have to exert force against it. That’s why I’m stomping all the time. The other option is to stick my greatsword into the ground. That allows me to concentrate my energy correctly.”

  “I can only control my own blood entirely, or someone else’s blood when it’s outside of their body. So I can’t make people blow up from the inside.”

  “Thank Providence,” Rose and Erth mutter in unison.

  “Excuse me, Miss Erthilind, I was meaning to ask, what happened to your sword?” Aira asks.

  “Oh, that. Both my armor and my weapon ended up like this after I fought against a dragon.”

  “Did you win?” Scarlet is hungry for details about that fight.

  Erthilind falls silent. She seems to remember something, and her expression grows sour.

  “No. Far from it.”

  The princess pats her armored back.

  “Don’t worry. We’ll look for that dragon and beat him up together.” Rose smiles as she says so. Always so cheerful and optimistic.

  The Iron Maiden smiles back. She knows she means it.

  Scarlet and Rose don’t stop training until they’re exhausted. The four girls share an amicable dinner and rest until morning.

  The sun hides behind the crooked treetops. Shadows rule every visible inch of greenery. The music of the forest is replaced by the crunching of dry leaves beneath their boots. The terrain is hard to navigate on foot, with roots sprouting out of the soil at every turn. Aira’s lamp sheds them some light and allows them to keep going.

  It’s a dangerous place; all of them know that. They walk carefully, vigilant, keen-eyed, with their weapons unsheathed. Scarlet is the only one who’s able to react in time and grab the princess’s hand when the leaves beneath Rose’s feet give way. Both of them are dragged underground in an instant.

  “Rose!” Aira screams.

  A growl rumbles from the shadows. The lamp’s glow reflects off Erthilind’s sword. The beast’s red eyes peek from between the bushes. Slowly, it stands up on its rear legs. The two girls’ gazes are drawn upward. On the monster’s back, spikes tremble as they cover themselves in poison.

  Rose and Scarlet bump into each other on their way down an underground tunnel. The two crash against the floor. Something softens the princess’s fall.

  “Ouch… Where are we? I was lucky enough to land on something soft, at least…”

  “That would be my thorax,” answers the assassin, with a pained smile.

  “Oh, sorry.”

  Rose stands up and helps Scarlet up. The two girls feel around the place clothed in shadows. As their eyes adjust to the darkness, the smell of smoke reaches their noses. Small, thin flames come out of the snouts of a giant beast.

  “Balrog!?” It surprises the princess to feel her companion’s warmth.

  “Rosy, didn’t you say that Balrog was a horse?”

  “Yeah, why?”

  “That thing is not a horse.”

  Rose blinks a few times, and when her eyes fully adjust, she can make out two gigantic canine heads. A bark startles them and the beast approaches them, menacing.

  “That thing isn’t Balrog!”

  “Told you!”

  Both girls back away and ready their weapons.

  Erthilind’s broken greatsword clashes against the spikes the huge beast is using as swords. Aira stays a safe distance away, terrified. That thing looks like a mix between a hedgehog and an orangutan, but five times bigger… C’mon, you useless fuck. Think of something… Erthilind can’t seem to find an opening in the monster’s ferocious attacks, and those venomous spikes promise a quick death if she fails to fend them off. The priestess can’t summon the courage to intervene.

  Clad in her gloves, the Iron Maiden’s fingertips graze the ground. A stone wall rises between her and the beast. Her greatsword roughly digs into the soil and furrows its surface. When it’s pulled out, her blade has been temporarily repaired and completely surrounded by rocks. Erthilind’s metallic aura emerges with intensity. [Knight’s Dirty Weaponry].

  The monkey destroys the wall in a single blow, and her greatsword receives the hit. The spikes coming out of its back are able to parry her attack. With a stomp, the knight creates a stone pillar that separates both opponents and manages to gain some distance.

  The beast roughly beats its chest in a rhythmic drumming. Erthilind points at it with her weapon.

  “Let’s see if you’re that noisy after I cut your head off.”

  The ground trembles with the blows exchanged between both fighters. Erthilind attacks with strong, precise movements, which are received by the raw strength and durability of her adversary. Poison and stone are spilled left and right. Two stone pillars dig into the monkey’s stomach. Its solid cranium endures a hit from her greatsword.

  “Aira, I could really use some help here.”

  The priestess isn’t sure what to do. She knows the boost from [Divine Blessing] won’t be enough for Erthilind to be able to win. I really… can’t do anything by myself…

  “Priestess, focus.” Erthilind’s words have Aira opening her eyes. “I need you to do something, anything. Once you do something, I’ll make use of it. Got it?”

  Aira nods and closes her eyes for a moment. The only thing she can hear is the clashing of the greatsword against the spikes. Until she can’t hear them anymore. Nor her breathing, nor the beating of her frightened heart.

  “What do you want?”

  “Where…?” Aira doesn’t understand what’s happening.

  “Already forgot about me? You wound me.”

  “Who…?”

  “You’d rather I tell you who I am, or save your friend?”

  “The latter.”

  “Good. Now, what did you want to ask me?”

  “You are the one who decides what my technique does, right?”

  “Something like that.”

  “Would you allow me to use it offensively?”

  “You can already do that.”

  “I meant, in a way that deals harm.”

  “You dare harm someone, then?”

  “…I think I have no other option.”

  “I see you’ve come to your senses. Alright, just do what I say.”

  From inside Aira’s lamp, light emerges. She raises her hand slowly and aims at the monster’s eye. Energy swirls in her chest and flows all over her body. All of that energy focuses on her hand. A beam of white light shoots out from it. The beast’s eye is blazed in an instant.

  “[Blinding Smite].”

  “I like that name, Aira.”

  Erthilind doesn’t let this chance go to waste. A blow of her greatsword, with perfect structure and making use of all her muscle chains, leaves the monkey passed out on the ground.

  The two girls high-five in celebration.

  “Rosy, I think I know what to do.”

  Scarlet keeps the two-headed dog still with her blood chains, as the princess grips its heads with all her strength.

  “Then do it; I can’t keep holding it for much longer.”

  Scarlet’s gaze grows keener than before. She starts to feel the heartbeats of any neighboring creatures. Rosy’s heart beats at full speed, her adrenaline through the roof. The dog’s beats desperately as he tries to escape. A heart beats with concern and anguish.

  “Found you…” the redhead whispers. Her gaze moves to some bushes. “Now, if you don’t calm down your dog, I’ll kill it.”

  Nothing happens at first, but when Scarlet creates a sword in her hand, the bushes rustle with movement.

  “Hey, wait… Alright, I give up…”

  A skinny man, clad in a long, white dressing gown, comes out of the bushes. He seems nervous, and weak. His glasses are askew; his hair, mussed. He’s trembling a little.

  The man murmurs something in a language neither of the girls speak, and the dog seems to relax. The princess lets it go, and Scarlet undoes the chains. Valor’s tip is aimed at the strange man.

  “Who are you and why did you attack us?”

  “I– I’m Ryon… and I’m the owner of this sanctuary…”

  “Sanctuary?” the redhead repeats.

  “This place is a sanctuary for my chimeras…”

  “Wait… Did you leave one of your chimeras on the surface to fight the other two?”

  “Yes…”

  “We should get back. If we don’t do something, that chimera is dead.”

  Erthilind and Aira are about to go look for the princess and the assassin, when the latter two come out of the ground on a monstrous plant’s ‘back’.

  “That princess and her weird pets…” Erthilind mumbles ironically.

  “We’re back!”

  The four girls meet again, and Ryon looks at them from a respectful distance, embarrassed.

  “Hey, Ryon, come over here and explain yourself.” The princess seems to laugh at the situation, even though they could’ve died.

  “Basically, this place is a sanctuary my father created for a lot of animals who were displaced from the dark forest.”

  “I thought we are in the dark forest.”

  “Almost; we’re at the limit. The monsters inside the dark forest are strong and violent; even its trees are dangerous. My father funded this place and used his technique {Quimera} to create guardians. Oh, no, Moko!” Ryon rushes to check on the monkey.

  “Don’t worry, he’s just taking a nap,” says Erthilind.

  “Thank Providence… I’m very sorry. I thought you were hunters.”

  “I guess that adds up; we do look pretty threatening…”

  “That’s still no excuse to attack us out of nowhere,” Scarlet reprimands Rose for her naivety, wearing an annoyed smile on her face.

  “By any chance, did your father create a giant three-headed horse?” Aira asks. Rose hasn’t made the connection until now.

  “No, I’m pretty sure he didn’t. Besides, our technique is pretty rare. It might be a natural beast…”

  They keep talking for a while, mending their differences. Ryon tells them about the times he’s come across hunters.

  “Technically…” Scarlet says, “we are hunters; we’re looking for a Hydra.”

  “You mean the Hydra of the lake? You’d be doing me a giant favor by getting rid of it,” Ryon answers. “When it decided to reside in the lake, we had to move, since most of my animals drank from there.”

  “Oh? Can you take us to the Hydra?” Rose asks, cheerful.

  “Sure, if you kill it.”

  The four girls celebrate and bid goodbye to their well-timed friend. Following his directions, they continue their journey toward the lake.