Still, the amount of damage he’d taken had been immense. So what had pushed him to keep fighting? He already knew the answer.
“I won’t die. Not until I’ve seen them pay for what they did to me,” he replied, feeling his resolve reaffirmed.
Now that he had a clear head, he could feel the guilt at what he’d done roiling inside him. It was like a knot had formed in his stomach and would not come undone. But he was committed, and no matter how many he had to kill, he would not stop.
“Well, that’s certainly good to hear. Oh, and just a quick heads-up, by the way. You now only have forty-four days until your body gives out. That explosion really did a number on your constitution, so it seems that it’s moved your timeline up a bit.”
Roy nearly choked on the spoonful of beef and rice he’d just put into his mouth. He was quick to chew and swallow, taking a sip of water to wash it down.
“Why do you always mention important details as though they are an afterthought? And why do you always wait to tell me?”
He was doing his best to remain calm, even though he wanted to pull the Dungeon core out and throttle it. Since he knew it wouldn’t do him any good to get angry, he kept his temper in check.
“I keep forgetting. For someone as old as me, time is practically meaningless. It’s hard to keep track of it by human standards. It had been getting easier since I merged with you, but it will take some time.”
Roy let out a long breath, snuffing out the last of his anger. Geon had a valid reason for what he was doing, so he’d been wise to keep his anger in check.
It still didn’t make him feel any less nervous, though. It was a three week trip to The Crater, meaning that once he got there, he would only have twenty-three days to advance to 2nd Dan. That was even less time than he’d had to advance to 1st, and it would be much harder to advance this time around.
He shoveled down his food in record time, then rose to his feet and began packing up his makeshift camp. He was lucky that no one had been sent after him. They probably assumed he was dead or at least, well on his way, so he doubted they would bother.
“Ferry, come here,” he called out.
The ferret was out in the surrounding forest, but he knew she would hear him and come running.
“Do you think we can make it to The Crater in less than three weeks?” he asked as he emptied the cooking pot. He then rinsed it out, before packing it away.
“If you sleep less each night or manage to sleep while riding, we can probably make it in sixteen days.”
“Why not faster?” he asked, tying his bag shut.
“Ferry will still need to rest. She doesn’t need much sleep, but she’ll still need time to recover.”
Roy nodded, hearing the swish and rustle of leaves as Ferry appeared out of the surrounding forest. He doubted he could sleep while riding, and knew he would need a few breaks, but if he could sacrifice just a bit of comfort, perhaps they could make it with a couple of days to spare.
His fight with the Shah clan members had shown him something else. He severely lacked when it came to distance fighting. He’d been lucky that the Essence had held together at all once he’d released it, let alone that it had made it all the way to his enemies before exploding.
Since it didn’t require any physical effort on his part, he knew that he’d be able to practice while riding, and was fairly confident that he’d have a new technique by the time he reached The Crater.
Slinging his pack onto Ferry’s back, Roy was quick to hop on. He winced as his sore muscles twinged, but did his best to ignore his discomfort. He was still alive, after all, so he had nothing to complain about. And yes, his timeline had been shortened by a good deal, but he could still make it. He had to.
“Alright, Ferry, let’s see how quickly you can get us to The Crater,” he said, patting the ferret’s furry neck.
He felt her tongue brush against his fingers for a moment, then her body coiled up like a spring and she shot forward, weaving through the trees and heading for The Crater.
***
Koya was stopped at the gates of the village under the control of the Diadei. It was pretty obvious by his robes that he was a member of the Shah clan, so he couldn’t say he was surprised.
“What business do you have here, Shah?” the man barring his path asked.
His red robe was tied together by an Orange-Belt, and since Koya didn’t feel like losing his head, he did his best to answer in a respectful tone.
“We were just passing through, maybe looking for some work around the village?” he asked hopefully.
The man’s eyes narrowed at his remark.
“The Shah clan isn’t welcome here. Not after the attack that caused hundreds of Kinka in damage and more than a few casualties.”
Koya’s eyebrows went up at that. A single Kinka, gold coin, was worth a thousand Ginka. The average worker made a salary of around fifty Ginka per week. The damage must have been pretty significant for it to have cost so much money.
“How do you know it was the Shah clan who was responsible?”
The man let out a snort.
“They weren’t, but they were definitely the cause of the attack. It looks like they got on someone’s bad side and they decided to blow them up. Some White-Belt got caught up in it as well, though we’re not really sure what happened to him.”
Koya was now completely dumbfounded. Someone had actively targeted members of his clan. If it had been the Diadei, this man would have killed them outright instead of telling them, so someone else was clearly responsible.
“If both the Shah clan members were killed, why haven’t you looked into who killed them?” Koya asked, trying to project as much confidence into his voice as he could.
“Because,” the man said through clenched teeth, “no one knows who caused the attack. As far as we can tell, they got away clean, though some of the elders are speculating that the White-Belt caught up in the blast may have been the one responsible.”
This caught Koya’s interest. A White-Belt killing a couple of Yellows was unheard of as far as he knew. Could the two deceased clan members have caught on to whoever had stolen their Dungeon core and gotten killed as a result? He had to know.
“This person they were after, what did he look like?”
“He was carried off by a Beast. He likely owned said Beast, but if he’s still alive after the shape he left in, I’d be very surprised.” the man replied with a shrug.
“Well, then, if he’s dead, you won’t mind pointing me in his direction?” Koya could tell that the man was running out of patience. He might not like the Shah clan, which meant that he would try to get rid of him as quickly as possible. He just hoped that the man wouldn’t decide that as quickly as possible meant killing them.
The man stared him down for a few long moments, likely deciding if he was worth the trouble of killing, before he shrugged.
“He wasn’t part of my clan, and if it gets your treacherous hides out of our territory, then I’ll happily point you in the right direction. The last we saw of him, he was headed west through the Waterwood on the back of an enormous ferret.”
“Thank you for the information. Would you by chance happen to have a description for me?”
Red Fire Essence blazed around the man’s hands, and Koya took a few quick steps back.
“Forgive my rudeness. We’ll be on our way!”
The man didn’t stop staring after them until the woods had swallowed them from view once more. Both Izu and Kozu had remained silent through the whole exchange, but now they began peppering him with questions.
“Quiet! Both of you!” he yelled, silencing the annoying pair.
His mind was racing with new possibilities. If two Shah clan members had been here, they had to be at least at the Yellow-Belt level. There was no way that a White-Belt could take them out, which could only mean that this person was somehow hiding his true power. He knew that some powerful Martial Artists had that ability, but if the explosion had injured him as well, he would be weak.