Ryuma sat down crossed legged on the ground. His two katana's lay flat on his lap. There was a creek in front of him with an assortment of fish swimming down it.
He flipped his black katana on towards his hand and threw it like a spear into the water. Using his spirit energy, he pulled it back, this time, having three of the fish impaled by it. He flipped it upright so they wouldn't fall off.
Each fish desperately struggled on the floor to only succeed in pushing more blood out of its system. He set the sword aside. Eventually, they were going to struggle themselves to death. He found whatever bark he could find and started heating it with friction.
It was a good thing they learned to do this during times of emergencies. He never thought that this was going to be his main way of life though.
The makeshift camp he had, finally bore fruit when he got a decent fire going. He put the three now dead fish on a rock and swiftly lobbed their heads off. He then continued to gut, and clean them out, making sure to remove all the organs and to debone them.
With both sides freshly cut open, there were not six pieces of fish he skewered back into his katana. He rested them over the fire.
It was now just a waiting game.
His stomach growled from the wait alone. That food they had wasn't nearly enough, but it was all Crastor had. He couldn't ask for more. Still… he wasn't aware that he was that hungry until he left. Ever since he came down here it was one thing after another.
It didn't help this was a mountain region and that game here was scarce. Creeks and rivers with fish in them were the most he could do. Outside of wild onions and berries, there wasn't much in terms of natural vegetation he could scavenge.
After half an hour of roasting, the fish looked like it was thoroughly cooked through. He took a bite of one of them and chewed.
He sighed drooping his shoulders. It had absolutely no flavor to it. If he'd known he was going to be down here, he would have thought to bring some seasonings.
He dug another bite into it.
It wasn't as if he had the luxury to complain about it. His stomach right now was arguing with him. He made a mental note to never go a week without sustenance ever again. For as bland and boring the food was, he wolfed everything down and still felt like it was not enough. He caught even more fish just to be sure.
The day passed into the night, and he followed the creek further downstream. Eventually, he should find some sort of settlement. With no sleeping pack and no shelter, Ryuma was forced to lay outside and exposed to the elements. He just lied there looking at the sky and being reminded that there were no stars to see from down here. Just more clouds.
At least this time, water wasn't dripping down from the sky.
The biggest thing he had to worry about at night was the prospect of demons attacking him in his sleep. His paranoia over that, made his nights restless. At the lightest sound of a branch cracking or dirt crunching, Ryuma would wake in a panic hastily summoning his katanas.
And the dreams…
He couldn't stop the dreams. Every night, he'd see Geneo covered in vast amounts of blood, specifically coming from his neck.
"Was it worth it?" He'd ask.
For as much of a bastard the man turned out to be, it still ran counternarrative to how Ryuma viewed him his whole life.
Furthermore, it was the whole act of taking human life that really did it.
For the life of him, he thought he was prepared for that. These people were utter human garbage for god's sake.
Still… human garbage, were still human.
One morning, he woke up arms covered in crimson red liquid. He freaked out and ran towards the river. He tried to scrub the blood off, but no matter how hard he scrubbed, it would not remove.
Before he knew it, it was all gone. None of it leaked downstream. It was just nowhere in sight. What should have been covered in blood was now just wet with dirty river water.
He looked around himself to check if he was bleeding anywhere and he was clean. Save for the dirt and dust he was sleeping in, there wasn't anything abnormal about him.
He sat back again. He must have been reacting towards lucid dreaming. He was starting to get more of those lately. There'd be moments where he thought he was dreaming but had woken up.
If this continued, he would be blaring the lines between what was his dreams and when he was awake.
As the morning came by, Ryuma ran keeping pace on the trail. One thing he noticed about the lower world was that his stamina was significantly higher than it was up in the Skylands. He didn't know why, but he felt like he could run all day.
At least that was one benefit he could enjoy. It wasn't much, but it was something. Looking at the map, if he just keeps following the direction the river flowed in, he will eventually reach Lue. A village just north of the river at the base of a mountain. It was a little more of a settlement in comparison to Hestia, the village he just left. If his luck is good, he could figure out what's going on around here and what the locals think about the state of the world.
Hell, he could use a wash too.
Though he'd been running for days. He'd wondered how far away that stupid town was. If the map were accurate, it would be right near a bridge. He hasn't come across a bridge yet so he couldn't have past it.
He finally saw it in the distance. Buildings with smoke rising. It still looked to be about another days walk away from where he stood.
"Finally. I thought I was never going to get there," He complained.
He took a step forward and as if on cue, he started hearing howling sounding eerily familiar to that of monkeys.
Ryuma stopped in his tracks. There were no monkeys in the bedrocks of the mountains.
Demons however, cared little for terrains. For they did not prey on animals. There was only one thing they preyed on.
And to them, young inexperienced priests like him were delectable treats on the menu. Matter of fact, those with spirit power like him, were not only a boost in their own power, but it was also less of a risk to go for the newbies.
Especially one all alone, wandering by himself.
Ryuma summoned his katanas. He tapped his ring with his finger and his rags of clothes turned into his white and black priest garb. Unfortunately for them, demon monkeys weren't the strongest form of demons either. Their individual strengths were easily one of the weakest things a newbie could deal with.
Their numbers however…
In a puff of smoke and spectral gas, one of the monkeys appeared out of thin air. Although it resembled a monkey in every way, it appeared in the form of a glowing spectra.
It sucked in the air around it. "AAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" It screeched making that annoying call.
Ryuma, unfazed, got his weapons poised. Any beginning priest would have lost their nerves. It was one thing reading about these things. To come face to face with an actual demon. That was a unique experience.
This is why the vast majority of priest start out as tithe collectors specifically those in larger groups. It was better to get used to running into things like this to learn what it's like before actual combat.
And then there were those like Ryuma.
He could feel the surroundings around him start to flood with more spirit energy. This thing was trying to both intimidate him and call for friends.
He stared at it with not a hint of fear in his eyes. "Go ahead and call as many as you like you ugly bitches. I was trained to kill you,"
It disappeared in a puff of smoke, but Ryuma knew that it wasn't gone. The opposite in fact, there were more of them here.
His eyes scanned back and forth. Watching… waiting…
One of the monkeys appeared launching itself at him. Whether they were invisible or not, every monkey had to appear right before the moment of attack.
Ryuma dodged and countered with quickly turning and stabbing it through the stomach. It burned into nothingness. He didn't slow down in the least as more monkeys were jumping at him from whatever angle they could.
Ryuma effortlessly moved his body back and forth, and only swung his sword when he couldn't be retaliated against.
These monkeys were stupid and did not co-ordinate. They just jumped at him whenever they thought they could get him. All it took was one swing without getting caught on each monkey and it was over for them.
Ryuma could only wonder how much of his classmates would fall to this if they had done it solo. He'd imagine the higher tier members would've had their own way of doing it. The lower tier would have been royally fucked.
He put his katanas up defensively after the first wave failed. "Don't tell me that's all you got. I couldn't wait to run into you fuckers,"