Chương 141: Chapter 124 – Burning Blood

Cade mentally dismissed the System's announcement and for a moment, none of them spoke. Earl finally broke the silence.

"So, should we head back? The message said settlements are gonna get attacked. Camp Persistence was the only real settlement I know of in this swamp."

"It isn't Camp Persistence anymore," Cade said.

"But it is likely the System would consider what's there a settlement. Even so, going back won't help them as much as killing the Lords outright."

"Are you sure?" Krystal asked timidly.

"No," Cade said honestly.

"But I think it's the right call. The System said the waves will increase in difficulty, which means they should start off easy enough for everyone back at the camp to handle. Easy for this Tutorial, anyway." Earl snorted.

"Ain't nothing easy about this Tutorial."

"It is what it is." Cade said as he glanced back the way they had come.

"Kyle and Sasesh are both good at range. Bryan, Kranti, and Nadean can handle anything that gets over or through the walls. Amanda can keep people alive. Vikram can assess the waves and warn everyone if something changes."

"I don't know if the others will be able to handle being attacked again." Krystal said.

"They need to move forward and start gaining experience," Cade said.

"Defending a camp might be safer than wandering around the swamp looking for monsters. At least they'll have walls, allies, and a healer." He didn't like leaving them behind but they needed to learn to defend themselves. If they looked at it the right way, this could be an opportunity to grow. Going back would both rob them of that opportunity and wouldn't solve the actual problem.

"The message said the Lords' minions are attacking settlements because their territories are expanding," Cade continued.

"If there are no Lords, their territories stop expanding. No Lords means no waves." Earl's grin slowly returned.

"So we kill the big bastards first."

"Exactly," Cade said.

"We speedrun the rest of the Lords. Kill them fast enough and the waves shouldn't become too difficult." Krystal still looked nervous.

"Okay." They kept moving. For the next few hours, they pushed through the swamp. Cade set a pace faster than any normal person from Earth could have maintained, but Earl kept up without complaint. Krystal moved more quietly than either of them, carefully choosing each step. Eventually, she glanced around and frowned.

"Have either of you noticed there are fewer monsters around than there were earlier in the Tutorial? Why haven't we been attacked?" Cade looked at her.

"What do you mean?"

"We've been walking for hours," she said.

"But we haven't come across any creatures. I didn't leave Camp Persistence much but I figured the swamps would be full of creatures by now."

"It is," Earl said.

"But nothing has attacked us." Earl glanced at Cade.

"Probably because of this guy." Cade frowned.

"Because of me?"

"Yeah," Earl said.

"Same thing happened yesterday when we were walking around. Sure, we came across that Razorback Snapper, but other than that monsters mostly kept their distance." Cade looked around again, this time focusing through [Essence Sight]. He ignored the life essence of the plant life and focused on the distant flickers moving through the swamp. Earl was right, nothing was close enough to threaten them.

"Why would they do that?" Earl gave him an incredulous look.

"Probably because of the aura you give off."

"My what?"

"Your aura," Earl repeated, like that actually explained anything.

"You give off a feeling. A strong one. The closer you get, the more obvious it is." Cade stared at him.

"You can't be serious. I give off a feeling? What kind of feeling?"

"Pressure, mostly. But it ain't just that." Earl scratched at his bald head, then scrunched his face like he was trying to find the right words.

"It's complicated. Best I can describe it, you feel like a forest fire after a lightning storm. Like everything around you is about to burn down from the force of it." Krystal was quiet for a few steps before she spoke.

"It feels different to me," she said. Cade looked over at her.

"You feel it too?" She hesitated before continuing.

"It feels like standing near calm, deep water. Everything is still on the surface, but there's pressure underneath. Like at any moment, the water could rise up and crash over everything." She swallowed.

"And if it caught you, it would either drag you under until everything went still again, or wash you clean." Earl blinked.

"Well damn. That's a lot more poetic than what I said." Cade did not respond immediately. Krystal's interpretation was different from Earl's, but that didn't make either one wrong. Maybe they were both sensing the same thing and interpreting it through their own understanding. Cade had no idea what to do with that information.

"I didn't know I gave off an aura," he said. But now that he knew, he couldn't help but wonder if that was part of why the others had treated him so differently. Nadean and Sasesh had likely seen some of what he could do, but seeing his strength and feeling it were not the same thing. If he had constantly radiated whatever Earl and Krystal felt, then it was no wonder the other survivors had stared and kept their distance.

"Have you felt anything like that from other people?" Cade asked. Earl shook his head.

"Not from people but the Lords feel similar. Kharvaxis felt like a shockwave. Like the air itself wanted you to kneel down and get crushed."

"And the salamander Lord you saw?" Cade asked. Earl's expression sobered.

"Heat. At first, I thought it was just the territory. But the closer I got, the more intense it became. Like I was standing too close to a fire. Then I saw the big bastard, and I knew it was coming from him." Cade frowned as he thought back to Kharvaxis. He hadn't felt anything like a pressure or dominating presence from the hermit crab Lord. But maybe he had been too focused on the fight to notice. When they reached the salamander Lord, he would pay closer attention.

They walked for another couple of hours before the swamp began to change. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. The shallow pools grew warmer. The reeds thinned, and blackened scars marked the trunks of nearby trees. Then Cade saw movement between the trees ahead. A long, low shape crawled onto a fallen log. It looked like someone had taken a salamander from Earth and stretched it longer than a person.

A slick red-black pattern covered the skin of its back, and thin orange lines glowed along its sides. Cade activated [Greater Identify]. Fireblood Salamander — Level 20 Highest Attribute: Vitality: 94 A flame-adapted amphibian with high affinity for fire. Its skin can ignite when threatened, and its blood remains boiling hot after leaving its body.

"Fireblood Salamander," Cade said.

"Level twenty." Earl's grin spread immediately.

"Dibs."

"No," Cade said. Earl looked offended.

"No?"

"You and Krystal fight it together. She needs experience too." Earl glanced back at Krystal, then his grin returned.

"That's a great idea. Just like the beginning of the Tutorial." Krystal did not look nearly as excited. She swallowed, then nodded anyway.

"Okay." Cade used [Greater Identify] on both of them while they moved forward. Earl Cathan— Level 19 Race: Human (F-rank) Highest Attribute: Strength: 80 Krystal Flores— Level 14 Race: Human (F-rank) Highest Attribute: Dexterity: 60 Earl would be fine. Krystal worried him more, especially since she did not appear to be carrying a weapon. Cade almost asked about it, but she was already circling to the side with careful, quiet steps." [Unbridled Rage]!" Earl shouted.

Stamina flared through Earl's body as he charged through the mud with his axe raised. The salamander's head snapped toward him. Its eyes bulged, and twin streams of pressurized blood shot from the corners of its eyes. The blood ignited in midair. Earl twisted and most of the burning blood missed, splattering across the mud with angry hisses.

"You're a hot little bastard, aren't ya?" Earl growled. Cade glanced toward Krystal. Mana flowed from her hands into the swamp water beneath her. The water then rose in a swirling mass that twisted and elongated until it formed a javelin. The weapon looked almost solid despite being made of water. Cade's eyebrows rose. Krystal stepped forward and threw. The water javelin crossed the distance in a blur and punched into the salamander's side.

Steam erupted from the impact, and the salamander shrieked, its body twisting away. That was all Earl needed. He closed the remaining distance in two quick steps then swung for the creature's neck. The salamander jerked back, avoiding the worst of the strike. Orange lines along its sides flared, and flames erupted over its body. Krystal formed another javelin and sent it into the creature's flank, right where the orange lines burned brightest.

The flames dimmed around the impact, and steam burst outward in a white cloud. Earl pressed the opening. The salamander raked its claws toward Earl's thigh, but he caught the strike on the blade of his axe and shoved the creature's head down with his free hand. Krystal slipped behind it and drove another water spear into one of its rear legs, making the limb buckle. Earl yanked his axe back, raised it high, and brought it down with overwhelming force.

This time his strike sank deep into the back of the salamander's neck. Burning blood sprayed from the wound, but Earl had already sidestepped away. The salamander convulsed once before it collapsed into the mud. Cade looked between them.

"Not bad." Earl wiped a streak of blood from his arm and winced when it steamed against his fingers.

"That one was easier than the last one I fought."

"Because you had help," Krystal said quietly. Earl barked out a laugh.

"Damn right. Well, I had help last time too but we didn't mesh nearly as well. Plus water beats fire, everyone knows that." Cade looked at Earl.

"Why do you yell out Unbridled Rage before you fight? I've seen you do it twice now." Earl shrugged.

"It's the name of my rage skill. Feels like it gives it a bit more oomph if I yell it out." Cade stared at him.

"Oomph?"

"Yeah. Like it works better when I yell the name. Don't ask me to explain it. I just know that it works." Cade frowned. He had never yelled the names of any of his skills. Neither had most of the people in his old group, at least not that he remembered. But Earl seemed convinced, and Cade knew skills responded to intent. Maybe saying the name helped focus the mind. Or maybe it forced the user's will into the pathways the System used to shape the skill.

"That might actually make sense," Cade said.

"Saying the name could help focus your will on the skill." Earl pointed at him.

"See? Oomph." Krystal looked down at the steaming corpse, then at her own hands.

"I don't usually say the names of my skills."

"Give it a try sometime," Cade said.

"See if it changes anything." She nodded slowly.

"I will." Krystal glanced back at the salamander's corpse.

"What should we do with it?" Earl shrugged.

"Salamanders don't usually drop anything worth harvesting. Its hide would probably make good armor, but we don't exactly have a crafter around." Cade looked at the corpse for a moment, then smiled faintly.

"I'll gladly take care of it." He fed essence into his [Mantle of Dissolution] and willed it to dissolve the salamander's body. A moment later the ash returned and Cade felt a thin stream of pure essence flow into his channels. Earl stared at the empty patch of mud where the corpse had been.

"How the hell did you do that?"

"Same skill I used to destroy the old camp," Cade said before he started walking deeper into salamander territory. The next fights went much the same as the first. Earl charged in, Krystal circled wide, and Cade stayed back but kept himself ready in case something went wrong. The Fireblood Salamanders grew more common the farther they walked, but none of them were stronger than level twenty-two. Earl kept the salamanders focused on him through sheer aggression.

Krystal flanked quietly, forming javelins from what little swamp water she could find and striking whenever she had the opportunity. Eventually, the swamp opened ahead of them, and Cade slowed near the treeline. Earl crouched beside him. Krystal dropped low on Cade's other side, her expression tense as she peered through the blackened branches. Like N'zhal and Tegziran, this Lord had claimed the center of a wide-open clearing. Thin streams of smoke leaked from cracks between dried plates of earth.

Dozens of raised mounds of baked mud dotted the clearing, each one venting thick, dark smoke. Every few seconds one of the mounds erupted in a jet of orange-green flames. The fire lasted only a moment before vanishing, leaving more acrid smoke curling in its wake. The smoke shifted as it moved and more than once, Cade thought he saw salamanders disappear behind the dissipating veils. A large flat stone protruded from the ground at the center of the clearing.

The salamander Lord sprawled across it like a pre-System lizard basking in the sun. Cade frowned. He felt no aura or intense pressure radiating from the Lord, nothing like what Earl had described earlier. Cade focused back on the Lord and activated [Greater Identify]. Sylvurn, Mirage Lord of the Bogfire Mire — Level 33 Highest Attribute: Vitality: 161 An evolved Lord of the Swamp. Possesses immense vitality, burning blood, and clinging bogfire.

It has turned its domain into a weapon against those that challenge its rule. Cade tightened his grip on the wooden haft of his axe. He considered drawing essence directly from his Core. The realm held far more essence than he had available through the two thin trickles feeding his channels. If he tapped into that reserve, he could probably overwhelm Sylvurn quickly. But the image of the withered Great Tree flashed through his mind. He still hadn't repaid what he had already taken.

The tree might be recovering, but that did not mean he should keep treating it like an infinite battery. Besides, this could be a useful training opportunity. He had his own essence, as well as what he was still circulating from dissolving the corpses of salamanders Earl and Krystal had killed. It might be more interesting if he just relied on that instead of relying on essence from his Core. Cade glanced at Earl and Krystal.

"Try to contribute if you can. Even a little should help you get experience." Earl nodded, his grin creeping back.

"Was hoping you'd say that."

"You might even get the Tutorial quest to kill the Lords of the Swamp," Cade added. Krystal blinked.

"We already have that quest." Cade looked at her.

"You do?" Earl nodded.

"Had it for a few weeks now."

"Huh," Cade said.

"I had to actually fight and kill one of the Lords before the System gave it to me." Earl gave him a look.

"More weird Cade stuff?"

"Probably." Cade looked back toward the clearing.

"Anyway, contribute if you can, but don't get yourselves killed trying. If this thing turns to you, back off. I don't want either of you risking your lives." Before either of them could respond, Cade stood and charged into the clearing.