For the next three days, Soi taught Nicole survival tips and tricks. It mostly consisted of learning how to find Retite and good flint for knives or arrow tips, as well as how to make those items.
The two sat on the beach in the evening. After another flint in her hands broke into pieces the wrong way, Nicole groaned and threw it into the water.
"Fucking bitch-ass stone!"
Soi sat next to her, laughing at her friend’s outburst. "It’s okay, calm down. There are plenty more to train on. Eventually, you’ll learn. Maybe."
Nicole leaned back and lay on the sand with a sigh. "I got a wild thought. What if I asked Tiralie to train me? I know I said the training here with Morilia is too slow, but that’s a completely different thing. If she’s one of the strongest Torakai and roams around the island to fight, I’d get experience in traveling and fighting monsters and people as well. And I bet checking out the capital would be great."
"I… am not sure it’s a good idea. You want a wild woman who cares only about fighting to teach you? Why would she agree to that? And from what I get, she doesn’t seem to particularly like you."
"Maybe you’re right. But when she comes back from the woods, I’ll ask anyway." Nicole shrugged and sat up again. She continued to break flints, trying to shape them into something resembling a knife.
The next day seemed to flow as usual, but in the afternoon one of the guards knocked on the hut’s door and said that everyone capable of fighting should come to the elder’s hut. Nicole and Soi exchanged surprised glances and headed out.
By the time they arrived, a larger group had already formed in front of the big hut. On the stairs leading up to it stood Izab, Terl, and Tiralie. The woman was naked, as before, but what stood out were the big, fresh scars on her body than Nicole was sure were not .
"By the way, I forgot to ask earlier. Do you have any idea why she walks around naked?" Nicole whispered as they moved closer, to the front row of the group.
"I don’t know. Maybe she likes to show off her muscles? Or scars. In a ‘battle trophies’ kind of way or something." Soi whispered back.
Over the next few minutes, the crowd grew larger. She spotted Morilia, but the woman didn’t approach them, and Nicole didn’t want to risk losing her spot in the front.
Izab coughed to get everyone’s attention. "Thank you for coming. We gathered you all here for a reason. But I am going to let our guest speak." He nodded to Tiralie.
She stepped forward, arms crossed under her chest. "You all know why I am here. A beast crawled out of the Chasm, and I was sent to take care of it. But after tracking it and a fierce fight, I have to admit it’s too strong for me alone. So I invite everyone to hunt it with me! If you’re not a little pussy and are capable of fighting, you can join me. We leave tomorrow morning. If you’re coming with me, I’ll be waiting at the western gates. That’s all." She turned away and headed toward the entrance of the building.
The crowd was split in two – some were excitedly chatting, while others seemed hesitant.
"If you already fought it once, can you at least say what we’re going to fight?" Nicole said loudly, making the woman stop and look at her.
"Hm, fair. It’s a tall, big wolf standing on two legs. With four arms, and it hits like lightning. Pretty literally. Does this description satisfy your curiosity, girl?"
Nicole shrugged. "I guess so."
On their way back home, Soi sighed. "You’ll join her, right?"
"Of course. Maybe if I show my skills and prove useful, she’ll be less against teaching me."
"But if even Tiralie couldn’t defeat it, don’t you think it’s too dangerous?"
"Hah, it IS dangerous. But I’ve already realized that if I tried to avoid everything dangerous, I’d have to lock myself in a hut and barely live at all."
"I’m just worried about you."
"Then why don’t you go as well? You don’t go hunting alone anyway. And you’d be less worried too."
Soi sighed but then smiled. "Alright. It’s just… since meeting you, I finally found someone close again, more than just a good sex partner like with others. Sorry if I’m too cautious."
Nicole hugged the catgirl. "It’s alright. I know how you feel. Let’s just close the topic of ‘something is too dangerous’ and trust each other’s choices, hm?"
Soi hugged back, nodding. "Yes, you’re right."
The next morning, Nicole and Soi went to the meeting place. Unsurprisingly, a group of villagers was already eager to go. In the end, there were around 50 of them total. The girls spotted Morilia, who stood leaning against a nearby building.
"Yo, you coming too, girls?" The woman grinned as they approached.
"Hi." Nicole waved her hand. "Of course. There’s no way I’m missing something like this."
"That’s the spirit! I just hope it’ll be enough to help me reach the peak of my current power, so I can finally ascend." Morilia pointed her spear at Tiralie, who sat on her spider next to the gates. "And I want to see how strong she actually is."
After a few more minutes, Tiralie seemed to grow bored of waiting and gave the order to go. She led the group from the front on her spider. People formed a thin line, mostly two or three across. Nicole, Soi, and Morilia walked together in the middle. Mignon jumped around them, seemingly excited.
"Hm, I wonder how she knows where to go. She said she tracked the beast, but how?" Nicole asked no one in particular.
"No idea." Soi shrugged.
"There’s no way she can see its footprints on the ground while sitting on the spider," Nicole continued. "And it wouldn’t make sense for them to be so close to the village either…"
Thinking about pointless little things, Nicole went forward. The walk went on and on. No wild animal was dumb enough to attack such a big group, especially with the addition of a giant spider. Nicole didn’t count time, but she felt like it had already been hours. Her legs started to hurt—wooden sandals weren’t the best footwear for forest travel.
In the evening, Tiralie ordered a stop for the night. Everyone sat in groups around small bonfires, eating dried meat taken from the village’s storage. In the meantime, she divided everyone into five groups to hold watch while the others slept.
This continued for two more days. Nicole’s back and neck hurt from sleeping on the ground, but she tried not to think about it much. By midday on the third day, they started to hear roars. Tiralie quickened the pace and led them straight toward the sound. After a few hours, she suddenly stopped. From Nicole’s point of view, she could see Tiralie looking around warily. Then, the woman pointed to the right side of the group.
"Watch out, Bonewolves are approaching!" she shouted.
Far between the trees, Nicole saw something white and gray moving fast toward them.
Morilia licked her lips. "Seems fun found us first before we found it. This will be a great warm-up before the real deal."
Most Torakai unsheathed their claws and waited. Meanwhile, Soi and a few more archers moved behind and readied their bows, aiming at the enemy.
They didn’t have to wait long. The sound of many legs running toward them grew louder with every second. Nicole could already see them – wolves twice as big as normal, with gray fur, their heads, backs, and limbs armored in bone. There was a whole army of them.
The first arrows were shot, though most just bounced off harmlessly. Tiralie’s spider ran forward at the enemies, spitting water traps.
"RAAAGH!" Tiralie jumped down from her spider, landing on top of one of the wolves. Her claws slashed like scissors, cutting the animal in half.
The others didn’t hold back, vigorously fighting the horde. One of the wolves ran at Nicole, its maw wide, showing giant teeth. It leapt at her, but she ducked underneath it. At the same time, she raised her spear, slashing a deep wound across the wolf’s stomach. It whimpered as it landed, its legs weakened, and it rolled a few meters. Nicole didn’t let it get up and struck again, piercing its lungs.
Mignon sat high in a tree, throwing rocks at the monsters. It didn’t do much, but it was honest work.
Even though there were more wolves than people, the beasts didn’t stand a chance. Tiralie shredded their backline, her claws emitting yellow lightning that chained from one wolf to the next. Despite that, Nicole and the others had no time to relax, as wolves rushed them relentlessly.
At one point, Nicole saw one charging at Soi.
"Aagh!" the catgirl cried as the impact of the wolf slamming into her sent her flying.
Soi rolled several meters, and as soon as she stopped, the beast leapt at her. Its front paws pinned her arms to the ground. Out of panic, staring into the wolf’s wide-open jaws, the girl closed her eyes.
Meanwhile, Nicole ran toward Soi, ignoring the rest of the battlefield.
Shit, I won’t make it in time!
There were still over five meters left as Nicole desperately raised her arm at the wolf. Suddenly, a burst of sand flew out from her fingertips, blinding the wolf. The sand got into its eyes and mouth, stunning it long enough for Nicole to close the distance and kill it.
Soi, realizing nothing had happened to her, looked up. A spear was lodged deep in the monster’s eye. The wolf froze before collapsing to the side.
"Get the fuck up, samurai. We have wolves to kill." Nicole said, pulling her spear out of the beast’s head. Soi nodded and looked around for her bow, which had slipped from her hands earlier.
After what felt like an hour, the battle was finally over. Nicole was both amazed and terrified by the number of dead wolves on the ground. The scariest part was that Tiralie had single-handedly killed over half of them. Now, the woman sat on her spider casually, looking around. She ordered a camp organized earlier than planned to let survivors rest, count the dead, and treat the wounded.
Soi was in the last group. She had a few broken ribs and her arms were wounded from the wolf’s claws. Everyone injured enough to need healing received a bit of the same pink dust that Morilia had given Nicole after the duel with Dellas. But there were too many in need, so most of it went to those who needed it the most. In the end, Soi barely got anything.
Now, the three of them sat around their bonfire, cooking wolf meat on sticks.
"Hey, Morilia, I forgot to ask. What exactly is this healing stuff?" Nicole asked, pointing at the small amount of dust in a bowl on Soi’s lap.
"Right, that’s Pietus Dust. Made from a flower with the same name." Morilia answered simply.
"If you can turn a flower into such an important dust, why isn’t anyone farming them?"
"Well, they simply refuse to grow outside of very specific places where they naturally do. As far as I know, no one has ever managed to cultivate them."
They continued to chat and eat until it was time to sleep. Everyone needed to rest well before moving forward toward even greater danger. Nicole lay on the ground, looking up at the starry skies above. She slowly raised her hand, open palm in front of her face.
What the fuck was that? I had no time to think during the fight, but something similar happened during the duel with Dellas. And why does everything revolve around sand?
With a sigh, her palm fell onto her face, and Nicole closed her eyes in thought. But unexpectedly, she saw something more than the usual darkness. Instead, in the middle of it, there was yellowish sand floating like a small dust cloud. With a gasp, the girl’s eyes shot open and she sat up.
Holy hell. I’m either finally going crazy or…
Nicole swallowed hard and licked her lips. She threw her arm forward and in different directions, just like she had earlier during the fight. But nothing happened.
"Fuck!" she whispered.
But with her eyes closed, she could still see the sand. She focused on it, and the sand cloud drew closer. Nicole tried to throw sand again, now looking at it directly with her eyes shut. To her surprise, half of the cloud disappeared. Opening her eyes, she saw a line of sand in front of her.
Great. I’m a sandman now.
After a few more tries, Nicole achieved two things: she could now do it without closing her eyes, just by concentrating on the idea of sand, but she quickly realized the cloud was gone, and nothing else happened.
Suddenly, the corner of her lips curled into a smile, which soon grew into a small, uncontrollable laugh.
I somehow got a supernatural ability, and it’s throwing sand out of my hands at will.
The absurdity of that thought made her giggle for a few minutes.
Okay, I guess I’m just going insane.