Chapter 30 Meeting
'Ausra, you said they're what Class, again?' Dorian queried, loping towards the caravan. The savanna grass rustled under his feet, slightly muddy thanks to the pouring rain.
'Sky Class Great Black Bears. Relatively strong beasts that are common to many worlds. They maximize their growth at the Sky Class. They possess a relatively widespread Ability known as Great Strength.' Ausra responded.
As soon as he had spotted the bears, he had sent Ausra a mental question. The response he got back was one that made him smile.
He had two ways to get stronger. The first was to find strong bloodlines, and evolve into them. This would strengthen his Soul Spell Matrix, and he could then use the more powerful form, or toss it in the mix to create a hybrid.
He could only safely mix bloodlines he had fully grown. His Soul Spell Matrix needed to fully adapt to a bloodline and have its growth and information fully recorded before he could attempt to create a hybrid with it.
According to Ausra, however, hybrid beasts weren't necessarily stronger, and some bloodlines might simply overpower others.
The other way he had to get stronger was much simpler.
Any time he learned an Ability, that Ability was engraved in his Soul Spell Matrix, and one he could always activate, no matter his form.
If he kept stacking more and more useful Abilities… a clear path to power opened up to him.
If he jumped in to save the Aeth caravan, he might expose himself to the people hunting him, if they planned on continuing after he killed the Titan.
They might not know he was a Titan right now, but there was no telling.
Still, the opportunity to snag a good Ability, here and now, was too big to skip on. He probably would've still helped them out even if there wasn't a good Ability up for grab, but he ignored that, shrugging.
He also felt, for some strange reason, that he was strangely drawn to the caravan. He couldn't tell why. He hadn't sensed this feeling from any of the other caravans.
"With great power comes great responsibility." He said out loud, nodding his head. His voice was high pitched and came out a little odd sounding. He wasn't fully used to this new form.
He flexed his fingers and readied himself, nearing the caravan.
..
"Get to the front! Quickly!" Lor yelled out, clasping his hands in front of him. He readied himself to cast a spell, looking for an opening as his fellow guards defended against the wild beast attack. His pale face was even paler in light of the attack, his delicate lips pulled up in a fierce frown.
He used his elbow to wipe some of the rainwater out of his eyes, the equivalent of adrenaline for Aethmen pumping through his veins.
Today was turning out to be an awful day.
After checking in with the Golden Moon Mercenary Alliance, he and his men had taken a commission to transport a pair of merchants to Taprisha. It was a simple journey, along a relatively safe route. The merchants wanted privacy, so they moved in a small group.
The World Bridge to Taprisha was one of the safer ones, and while beasts of all kinds did flock the savanna grounds, very few would have the guts to attack a caravan, even a small one.
To have a group of Sky Class beasts attack a caravan along this route was practically unheard of. Especially in this godforsaken rain.
"Gravity Magic: Ten Ton Blow!" He cast a spell out, sending one of the five huge bears attacking them flying. A large ball of air had been compressed and then blasted forward, knocking against the 2 and a half meter tall brute with the force of ten tons.
Black blood burst as the bear's shoulder caved in, cracking sounds ringing out. Lor watched, however, as the bear's shoulders and arm began to reform themselves, healing to a perfect condition.
"How?!" He sputtered, cursing his terrible luck.
These appeared to be Great Black Bears, but they must be some other rare breed. He had never heard of a Great Black Bear that possessed the power to instantly regenerate.
There were 10 armed fighters in his troupe, all at the Sky Class, and just one other Wizard. Unfortunately, Lizzy, the other Wizard, had fallen ill and had stayed back on Hasnorth, leaving him as the sole backup.
"Hiyaaah!"
"Arrrgh!"
"Buck, get back!"
The yells of some of his fighters rang out as they tried to stall the bears, and were smashed backward. The white leather armor his men wore was designed to protect against physical impacts, magically enhanced. In the face of the bear's attacks, however, it seemed to crumple almost too easily.
"Protect the passengers!" Lor sputtered out, gathering himself to cast another spell.
Unfortunately, his men had fallen into disarray as the bears overran them, smashing several of them backward. Half of his fighters were on the ground, groaning in pain and unable to stand.
One of the bears, the largest of the group, hurtled towards one of the wagons at the front, a large, painted black wagon with enchanted grey wheels. The wagon carrying the passengers they were commissioned to protect.
"No!"
..
The closer Dorian got to the caravan, the more and more he felt drawn here. As if he had some connection. It was incredibly unsettling to him.
Thanks to his diminutive form, the ongoing fight, and the downpour, none of the bears or Aethmen had noticed his arrival.
The Aeth warriors were geared up in white leather armor, stained grey or beige by dust and time, and armed with deadly swords or iron maces. Half of them were lying on the ground, either dead or injured, while the rest were desperately fighting against the attacking Great Black Bears.
Dorian saw a single Aethman dressed in travel-stained grey robes, giving off the appearance of a Wizard.
As he finished taking everything in, he saw one of the bears break past the defensive line, and charge towards one of the caravan wagons. It threw up dirt, grass, and mud as its paws tore up the ground, hurtling it forward.
Dorian clenched his fist and then leaped forward. As he did so, he activated his Flame Claws Ability.
In his Titan form, it made both of his hands glow a fiery red, and feel faintly uncomfortable. Steam rose from them as his now flaming hands collided with the rain. The slight, uncomfortable feeling made him frown. It seemed even though he could access the Ability, not all Abilities would work perfectly in every form.
He shook the thought from his head as he sailed through the air, smashing towards the huge bear.
..
Lor called on everything he had, clasping his hands as he tried to send a Gravity Wave over and disrupt the Great Black Bear before it killed their clients.
If they failed to at least protect their charges, they would be expelled from the Golden Moon Mercenary Alliance without a second thought. He had built his entire livelihood on getting accepted into the prestigious, extremely famous organization, and while he might only be on the very lowest rung, it was still a rung he took great pride in.
He absolutely could not fail this. As long as he could save the merchants, and make it out of here alive, everything could be salvaged. His heart was wracked with pain, however, at the sight of his injured men. He knew he couldn't save them all.
He also knew there was no way he could cast his spell in time.
He watched in helpless horror as the bear slammed down next to the wagon, and began to charge into it.
At least, that was what it tried to do.
Before it managed to even scratch the surface of the passenger wagon, Lor froze, staring at the most absurd thing he had ever seen in his life.
A naked, red-skinned toddler sailing through the rain with hands that appeared to be on fire.
The toddler smashed down hard on the ground next to the wagon and stepped forward, punching the Great Black Bear with his bare hands.
THUD
A punch that sent the Great Black Bear flying several meters backward, a huge hole in the center of its chest. Black blood seeped out of parts of the hole, burnt skin sealing off most of the damage.
His men that were still fighting all turned and stared, as did the attacking bears, turning creepily in unison.
The naked toddler landed on the ground without a hitch, looking down at his own hands as if in surprise, before turning towards Lor.
"Don't worry! This Godly Dra- This Godly Titan is here to save you!"
..
Dorian gave the Wizard a reassuring smile, unaware of how unnerving his actions and appearance made him seem.
He knew his body was at the Sky Class in terms of strength, thanks to Ausra telling him, because of his Grandmaster Class Soul Spell Matrix. He hadn't been aware, however, of how truly strong he was. Titans, even young Titans, were unusually strong.
Having so much power concentrated in such a tiny body was a deadly combination.
He felt a little energy drain from his body from his usage of his Flame Claws Ability. The Great Black Bear was a common beast with a decent level of strength, but a pitiful defense apparently. He had blasted through it like it wasn't even there.
Even if its Soul Spell Matrix was on the same Class as his, if it couldn't protect itself, mighty strength meant nothing.
The rest of the bears had all frozen, and then backed off from the fight, turning and staring at Dorian almost as one. He noticed this out of the corner of his eye. It was vaguely creepy.
He ignored this, however, and the stares of the warriors and the Wizard as he stalked forward towards the body of the bear, intent on absorbing enough of its blood to have its bloodline. The prize he wanted here.
As he moved forward, a warning yell caught his attention,
"Watch out! It can regenerate!" The Aethman Wizard waved his hands frantically at Dorian as he stepped forward, a look of concentration appearing on his face. The other Aeth guards began to retreat near the Wizard, moving towards the wagon Dorian was next to. They were on guard, to both the bears and to Dorian.
'Hmm?' Dorian stared down at the body of the huge bear in shock. Before his very eyes, the gaping hole in its chest was slowly closing. Flesh writhed, tissues and muscles stretching out and expanding as it patched itself together. The burnt skin rose up from the sides of the injury, pushed off.
'What?! Ausra, how come it can regenerate?!' He mentally queried, shocked. His Red Salamander form was supposed to have decent regeneration for a Sky Class beast, but that only meant it could scab over wounds quickly, and heal smaller injuries fast.
To completely regenerate a gaping hole at center mass… That was a huge jump.
'…I do not know. Everything seems to indicate that this is a Sky Class Great Black Bear. Great Black Bears do not normally possess the ability to regenerate at such scale.' Ausra's reply gave him no answer.
The bear restored itself completely and stood up, its body rising. As it did so, Dorian realized the strange connection he felt wasn't to the caravan.
It was to this bear right in front of him.
Dorian jumped backward a few steps, holding his still flaming hands before him.
Instead of attacking, the bear just turned and looked at Dorian. Its fur-covered snout twisted up in what appeared to be a smile as it shook out its fur and rubbed its claws together, shaking off dirt and water.
And then began to speak.
"I spread ten thousand clones in every direction, across sixteen planets now, but I can't believe I found yet another one of us within only a couple weeks. Fate really does draw us together, huh?" The bear's voice had a deep timbre to it and was accompanied by an odd, keening noise. It gave Dorian an attempt at a winning smile, which, on a bear, could only be described as unbearably horrifying,
"You are the third one of us I've found."
"I… What?" Dorian stuttered back, taken completely aback, as he stared at the odd talking bear. The fur on its body had reformed by now, covering up the place Dorian had punched through.
The bear rolled its eyes,
"You're the third one of us I've found. You must be a lower number, huh?"
Dorian's eyes widened as he realized what the bear meant, his body tingling as he went on full alert.
"I am the ThirtySixth-Born, but you can call me Mello."
"What number are you?"
.