"S-Sorry I'm late. I must have kept you waiting." Gles apologises as soon as she arrived.
"No, your not and no, you didn't. It's still 12 minutes and 54 seconds from the appointed time. Take a seat." She sits down and I waved at a cute maid. "What would you like to have?"
"Oh. Uh. I-I don't actually drink coffee." She started poking her fingers.
"So, what? You eat coffee? Its not coffee if you don't actually drink it." I tried to make a joke and surprisingly she giggled.
'This girl is so gullible. I must protect her.' I swore deep in my heart. "If you don't want coffee then you can have chocolate or milk tea."
She smiles and gave me a nod. "I'll take a cup of hot cocoa, thank you." She said to the cute waitress.
"So. Did you learn the spell I gave you." I asked her.
"Yes! I learned it just fine. I was able to cast it perfectly last night. It was much easier to cast than my personal spell and only used a tiny amount of my mana. And best of all I don't have to chant or channel my energy." She started talking with enthusiasm. She looked very beautiful with that wide smile on her face. "I can't wait to test it out later."
Our order arrived and pushed the cheesecake to Gles. I smiled and said, "I'm sure you'll do great. Just do your best. I'll be protecting you all the way."
She blushed, "T-thank you."
I smiled again. "You're welcome."
We finished our coffee and entered Red Gorge. Hot air assaulted us as soon as stepped through the gates.
"Ah!" We were shocked by the sudden change in temperature.
"It's like an oven in here." I turned towards Gles and saw that she was uncomfortable. "Are you okay?" I asked.
"I-I'm fine."
'No your not,' I berated her inwardly.
"L-Let's keep going, " she insisted.
"Okay. Suit your self. But you have to tell me if your unable to continue."
"Y-Yes." she nodded.
"I changed my mind. I'll decide if you can't keep going or not. Then, I'll carry you out."
"Y-You don't need to. I-I can carry myself. I-I mean, I can walk by myself." She shook her head violently. Her face was beet red.
"If you can't walk anymore then I'll be carrying you. I'm your guardian warrior after all." I said to her with a smile.
She blushes even more, "Will you really be my guardian warrior?"
"You don't want me to be?"
"I want!" she shouted in an excited tone.
"Then, I'll be your guardian warrior starting today."
"Yay!" She started jumping and twirling.
"Ah!" Strong winds blew from inside the gorge causing a high temperature spike. The feeling of getting air fryed alive was not fun at all. I threw myself before Gles, shielding her from the winds. That only reduced her temperature by a negligible amount.
SPIRIT GUARD
Black iron transparent arms surrounded us and made breathing more manageable. I wasn't sure it would work since weather wasn't considered as an attack but it worked out just fine.
'Wait!' A shiver rand down my spine making all my hair stand up. Weather wasn't an attack but what if?
ROARRR
A loud roar reverberated throughout the gorge, confirming my hunch.
"Get out of the way!"
"Run!"
"Run away! It's coming! Go!"
A party of hunters came running out from behind the rock wall. They noticed we were in the path and started shouting at us to run away.
BOOM
A large head crashed through the rock wall. It's amber eyes glared at the running group.
It was the cause of the burning wind. The Boss Monster of Red Gorge. The dragon-bourne beast of fire.
Salamandrake.