Faust landed on the island at dawn.
Since the Dark Dragon was constantly resting, he didn't think the timing would make much of a difference. Regardless, Faust wasn't welcomed without a summon but he came anyway.
The dragon blood trees tilted away from him as he walked by and the trunks were dyed a faint red as the sun began rising. Dawn was the best time to arrive on the island because the shadows weren't as strong as they would be at noon and the light blended perfectly with the dark.
The tug and pull of light and darkness were quiet at this hour and the equity of them allowed him to traverse the space without having to distinguish where the light ends.
That was why he liked the Dark Dragon's cave where there was barely any light besides a glowing brazier at the entrance. The cave and its deep chasm were quiet, so quiet that Faust could imagine himself hearing the sound of water droplets landing into a puddle. Very soon, the dragon's soft breath was heard as it was roused awake by his presence.
Faust could feel the sudden irritation.
๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ, the Dark Dragon growled.
"I met a few rabbits in the white gate," Faust said. "They told me the Light Dragon wasn't there."
The dragon was silent for a long moment before it decided to speak. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ด?
Faust nodded. "I think they are Dragon Servitors. Their white fur must've covered the mark."
๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต, it said. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐๐ณ๐ข๐จ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ท๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ด. ๐ ๐ข๐ฎ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๏ฟฝ๏ฟฝ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด.
"You said there's only one servitor behind every gate. Why were there so many?"
๐ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ, the Dark Dragon said in annoyance. ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐ข ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ด. ๐๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต, ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ช๐ณ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ต? ๐๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ? ๐๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐บ ๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆโ
"There's something else," Faust interrupted. "The cave can regenerate when destroyed. I'm worried the servitors can regenerate as well. How do we defeat something that doesn't die?"
The dragon scoffed. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ท๐ฆ. ๐๐ณ๐ถ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ต.
๐๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ.
* * *
Faust woke to the sound of Nathaniel slamming the door shut. Seconds later, the hunter opened Faust's bedroom door and peeked in.
"You got a letter," the man said, "and I opened it for you."
Faust turned his head to the intruder waving a piece of paper. "Why?" he asked.
Nathaniel ignored his question. "It's from the guild Legacy."
Legacy Guild was a few states over. They were quite famous for their collection of fire-type hunters. A few of them could even make a good match against Nathaniel. Of course, they'd lose but it was the duration that mattered when it came to the strongest hunter.
"They want to know if you can make it to their annual Hunter Competition." Nathaniel flipped the letter over. "Oh, they said you can also bring me."
Faust sighed and looked at the ceiling. Hunter Competition, huh... The thought of it made his head hurt. It seemed like they wanted to invite Nathaniel but didn't have the courage to. As Nathaniel's part-time secretary, Faust knew it would be good publicity because everything that involved competitions and fighting was good for Nathaniel's image.
But to think that someone would try to invite Nathaniel through Faust. What a head case. You don't invite the president by inviting his secretary.
"I think it'd be a good opportunity to have a match against Legacy's hunters," Nathaniel mused, still leaning against the doorway as if it were his bedroom. "What does our schedule look like on that day."
"It looks full," Faust replied blandly. "When is it?"
"Next Saturday." Nathaniel looked at him and nodded to himself. "I'll tell them we're going."
Anyone could tell the strongest hunter was excited by the prospect. Nathaniel had a natural gift as a hunter but his current talent was also the result of years of practices and experiences. The Nathaniel now was much, much stronger than the Nathaniel he'd started out as, the man with only the gift of talent and nothing else besides brute force.
The man enjoyed challenges. Faust didn't, which was why he invested more time into speed so he could run when things got tough. Now, perhaps he could kill a creature or two with just a thought, but that skill wasn't at the level where he could extinguish a monster the size of a sea serpent. Compared to his support skills, his attack was still far too rusty.
"Maybe I can teach you how to use a sword," Nathaniel said.
They watched from the side as the new recruits fought their way through their first black gate. There were simply too many fresh hunters lately that Nathaniel didn't have many black gates to take care of. By now, the strongest hunter was already deeply regretting his choice of joining the white gate team.
"You just want to fight, don't you?" Faust mused.
"Well, I have a theory." The hunter crossed his arms. "Hunters control and direct the elements through their weapons but you're a light-type hunter without a weapon. In normal situations, you shouldn't be able to control the elementsโyet you're able to. If you don't need a weapon to control the element, does that mean everything is within your control?"
"That makes no sense."
Nathaniel frowned and rephrased his question. "Does that mean you can control everything the light touches?"
"...You sound like Mufasa."
"I'm serious."
Faust looked at him. "Healers don't have weapons but they can't control everything either."
"They have books with skills," Nathaniel objected. "You don't have a book."
"In lieu of a book," Faust said, tapping his head, "I have everything stored in my head. Perhaps that's what makes a light-type hunter special. When I received my power, I received a fixed list of skills as well."
It was mostly the truth. From the very start, Faust knew the extent of his power. Control came easily to him. That was why he could easily make the public believe he was nothing more than a support-type hunter. Nathaniel was right in that Faust could control everything the light touched but he could also control everything the light didn't touch.
"What exactly are your skills? I don't think it's just supporting. There seems to be more."
Faust looked at him but it didn't look as if Nathaniel had any suspicious intent behind his words. The man was genuinely curious. "I'll likely die if I rush at an enemy, if that's what you're asking."
Nathaniel looked a bit upset by the knowledge. "Not even a little bit of attack power?"
"I can expel some enemies with my shieldโฆ?"
"Wow, that's useless."
Faust was offended. "Thanks." Fortunately, Nathaniel looked satisfied by his responses and didn't ask about his abilities anymore. It was natural that Nathaniel would have some suspicious since Faust had fought alongside him for a while now. However, it'd be problematic if others caught wind of any inkling. Until he'd met and spoken to the Light Dragon, he shouldn't reveal his power to others just yet. Being a secret weapon was his only selling point.
The recruits finally cleared the gate and Faust went to close it. In seconds, the gaping black gate disappeared and the air returned to normal. On the grounds, the recruits were breathing heavily and a few were drenching their hair with water.
"Could do with more speed," Nathaniel said to them, glancing at their tattered clothes scorched by an ifrit. He patted the shoulder of their leader rather condescendingly.
It felt as if Nathaniel was bored out of his mind. There wasn't much for them to do today and but luckily, just as they'd arrived at the guild, Talcot sent him a message that they'd managed to trapped the giraffe in the Association. It seemed like the whole building was on lockdown and every available hand was sent to apprehend the giraffe.
However, it soon took a turn. "...President Ilorov said the giraffe killed a student," Nathaniel said from the passenger's seat, reading out the messages from Faust's phone.
Faust gripped the wheel. "Did he say how?" he asked eventually.
"No, but he said he'll be waiting for you at the back door." Nathaniel set down his phone and carefully looked at him. "This changes everything. You're lucky it didn't kill you yesterday."
"That's not something you should be worried about right now," Faust told him. "You should be preparing for tomorrow's press conference on why the creature was brought back and the details of the white gate. We don't want the grieving family to turn against us."
"You're thinking too far and you're overreacting. Hunters die every day," Nathaniel said but he looked a bit more troubled than seconds before.
They left the car in the parking lot and hurried into the building. As soon as they'd entered, the door was sealed shut again by magic.
Faust looked at the person waiting by the door and smiled slightly in greeting. Talcot had sent Sally to relay his message.
"Do you want to see the students first?" she asked quietly. Thundering footsteps were heard all over the building as the guards swept the building for the creature.
"Students?" Nathaniel inquired. "Did someone else die?"
Sally nodded. "There was only one in the beginning but since we began the lockdown, the creature had killed four more. There are three others that were severely wounded. I'll take you to them."
They took the stairs because the elevators were sealed off. The training center had been temporarily remodeled into a refuge. Faust found it a bit absurd. It was just one giraffe. It did throw him over the railing yesterday but Faust didn't find malicious intent behind it. Why did it suddenly attack and, more importantly, how?
As soon as they entered the training center, the stairs behind them were resealed. Sally ushered them to where a few healers were gathered. His brother Collin was laying down another student whose whole arm had been gnawed off and charred. Faust winced at the bloody sight.
"...It wasn't a giraffe, was it?" he asked Sally.
She nodded. "The President told us it could morph. So far, it's taken the shape of a wolf, lion, and a flame serpent."
Faust squatted down to take a look at the wound. Soft healing lights enveloped the wound but most of them were not closing at all. He looked at the healers in confusion.
"We tried," one of them replied, "but it just won't close. All we can do now is to keep replenishing the blood they lost."
Besides the two with a limb brutally torn off, the other ones had bite wounds that were bleeding profusely.
"Is this how the last five hunters die?" Faust asked.
He received a nod and exchanged a glance with Nathaniel. The hunter nodded before leaving to see Talcot.
Faust trusted the healers' abilities which meant the wound couldn't be closed with normal spells. That was either because the patients didn't consider the loss abnormalโwhich didn't seem to be the case judging by their faces twisted in painโor that there was something continuously keeping the wound open.
"Can you heal them?" Collin asked.
None of the instructors were hurt, Faust realized. The giraffe was targeting the weaker ones. But why? Was it because it couldn't take on the stronger hunters? Or did it not want to?
The smell of rotting flesh reached his nose and he jerked back with a cough as the wound began turning black.
"Mr. Faust," one of them said urgently as if Faust were a miracle worker. "Can you do something? At this rateโฆ"
Faust didn't think his healing spells would work but he hesitantly tried anyway. He placed a hand over the wound and let the power flow out his fingertips. For a moment, something clicked.
But it didn't get better. In fact, the wound got worse.
Faust felt something in the wound pulling and sucking at his power. His hand shook violently as he tried to break the flow and he quickly tucked his hand to his chest with a frown.
The healers looked as the flesh began rotting away faster and the hint of white bones began emerging. The flesh melted away with a hiss and slid onto the floor. It was like acid. Parts of the floor were melted away, revealing the black mana-infused stone beneath the dark blue tarp.
"...! What happened? Didโ"
"What type of creature was it?" Faust demanded, snapping his fingers to get their attention. "Was it a light-type monster?"
The healers didn't know but Collin said, "We've never seen one like it but that's possible. When it disappears, it's always like a flash of light."
That wasn't enough to determine the type but it was a good base.
Being unable to close the wound reminded him uncomfortably of the sand insects. Faust scanned the wound again for signs of light fragments and he found them buried deep into the flesh.
And then he nearly threw up if not for the demand to be professional.
There were hundreds of them, crawling like squirming maggots on the open wound. Faust's hands jerked involuntarily as he remembered putting his hands so close to the wound.
This was fine, he told himself and took a shallow breath. Faust re-positioned himself so he was kneeling on a knee instead of squatting and placed a hand above the wound. Now that he had what he was looking for, it could be done.
Just like sand insects, he thought. But bigger. And uglier. Andโ
Before his thought turned to fear, Faust snapped his fingers.
The light howled in his ears as the souls of the light insects were torn from their squirming bodies and spiraled into the air languidly. With another snap of his fingers, the light condensed into a single bright orb and exploded into nothing.
It was quick, a single flash of light visible only to him.
A breeze of wind rushed in to fill the empty space. All around them, the wounds of the hunters began closing as the healers' spell began to work.
From the rotten pile, pink flesh emerged and cleansed the dead, and soon, the last layer of skin was rebuilt. If not for the hole in the ground, nobody would've guessed the extent of the hunter's injuries.
There was a moment of stunned silence.
And then the loudspeaker came alive to deliver something else. "The creature has been captured. The barriers in the building will now be unsealed." Talcot didn't say anything else but there was hesitance in his tone as he ended.
Faust felt his sadness.
There was no way this wouldn't get out and it felt as if the man was waiting for the call for his resignation with his hands tightly clenched.
That creature wasn't just any normal creature. Talcot had told him that the creature simply disappeared from the barrier prism. Tracking and locking it down in the Association must've taken him a lot of power and effort already.
Faust shook his head. Now was not the time for that. He must prepare for the goddamn press.
The pent-up panic led to a stream of people rushing to exit the building. The wounded hunters were forgotten and so was Faust as the healers and instructors took up the job of maintaining order. Faust followed the stream. The instructors and guards could take care of the rest.
Everyone was taking the stairs or the skywalk but Faust stopped before the elevator and waited.
It opened with a soft chime. Nathaniel was inside and the hunter nodded at him, moving a little aside to make space.
Gently, the door slid shut and blocked out the noise of the clamoring people outside. There was a shudder, and then they were headed to Talcot's office.
"Where did you find it?" Faust asked the hunter who looked pleased about something.
"The mana chamber," Nathaniel replied. "I managed to put my sword through the creature before it vanishes. The blade's the only thing keeping it from escaping so I won't be able to get it back until someone deals with it."
Faust nodded. "How's Talcot?"
"He's trying to work out what to say to the media with Ms. Emilia." At Faust's gaze, Nathaniel supplied, "she came a little after we did."
"Then it should go well." He sighed and rubbed his shoulders that were suddenly sore for no reason.
"Why?"
"If Ms. Emilia is here, that means her secretary is also here." Faust smiled. "Ms. Belyre is a godsent gift when it comes to dealing with the media."
The elevator slid open again and they entered the quiet hallway leading to Talcot's office. The door was open so Faust and Nathaniel could see the three of them seated on the sofa, pouring over papers and talking with animated hands.
An unexplainable chill ran through him.
"Did something happen with the injured?" Nathaniel commented as their footsteps slowed just beyond earshot from the door. "
That wasn't why he felt the chill but Faust nodded, seeing that the information could help the man. "It was like the sand insects," he said. "The wound wouldn't close because there were insects eating the flesh."
Nathaniel's frown deepened but he didn't say anything.
"Nate, we'veโฆ.we've never really dealt with insects during black gates. I don't know ifโฆ" He trailed off, frustrated that he was so unconfident.
Nathaniel's voice, however, was firm as he said, "The GHO said they can be killed with mana. We just need to prepare a few more bottles for the hunts. It's just like any other monsters."
But if the insects could be killed by mana, why did the hunters die today? Not a single drop of mana could be felt when Faust searched the wound. It was as if the insects had sucked away the mana...
After all, didn't Nathaniel find the monster by the mana chamber? What if there were more creatures like that? What ifโ
Faust took a shallow breath.
One thought at a time.
Right now, he must deal with Talcot's issue.