Chapter 49: Into The Den

[You have entered their line of sight.]

The moment those words appeared, trumpet sounds erupted throughout the vicinity. A welcoming, or a battle cry. Benign couldn’t tell which one it was.

One thing he realized. They did not find his arrival surprising. They were expecting him.

[Reminder: Unique Skill Unlocked.]

Benign glanced at the screen before swiping it away. Naming Freya had given him another skill to his arsenal, but it was still a skill with a ridiculous toll on him. He didn’t have enough HP to risk it.

CRACK. CRACK.

Suera readied her whip. "I don’t see arrows, but there’s something in the air awaiting our entry."

’Something in the air...?’

Freya slowed down in front of the invisible wall that separated the land from the seabed. The Firewing wing chirped once. Benign hummed in response.

He pulled his revolver and fired at the space in front of them. There was a cracking sound, but whatever wall in front of them didn’t break.

BANG. BANG.

The wall shattered.

Freya zoomed inside at that instant. Spears charged upwards. The whip cracked again and again. Then the orchestra of screams rose with the chaos happening below.

Benign didn’t bother to watch it. He kept his hand on Freya, making sure it was calm enough to evade the spears Suera might miss while finding its family.

"Eventually, the general would arrive themselves. These foot soldiers exist only to stall.

With that in mind, finding the Firewings would make their journey end faster. Even if the general lived, the mission was complete as long as they rescued the Firewings.

SCREECH.

The cry of a Firewing troubled Benign. Freya twisted in that direction, lowering its body towards those with spears.

Suera grunted. "I’ll hold them off. Go!" She dropped off the Firewing as she spoke.

Benign’s head snapped behind him. "No..."

But she was down in a blink. Her body glowed a deep blue that extended to her whip.

The soldier hesitated for a second, whether to join Suera in the battle or go along with the search for the Firewings. With Freya already heading there, he let it take him to the base.

Suera’s voice called out as he left. Looking back for a split second, he saw she wasn’t struggling. If anything, she was having fun. Her whip became a terrifying blue blur, and every time someone fired at her, the attack returned toward them.

She faced Benign. The smile left her face.

"Be careful out there. They just want to separate us. Okay?"

Benign’s eyes widened, but the firewing went further away from her. If the support he had was being kept busy, and they weren’t exactly trying to kill her, then surely it was a delay tactic.

Everything was part of their plan. Even the screeching Firewing that Freya was reacting to at the moment. The entire base was a maze designed around Freya and his firewings.

’They don’t want me to find them. They want me to follow them.’

Moving through the maze, he took notice of the maze layout, guards standing sparingly below him, the entrances that connected to a light source, and weapons’ positions.

The firewings’ cries occasionally echoed within the maze, leading Freya on. The cries came from different directions, but all still led forward.

Soldiers still stood below him, watching him as if he were being led to his slaughterhouse.

That sickened Benign, and he pulled out his revolver before the feeling settled in his chest.

BANG.

The thin rope holding a support beam snapped. The soldiers below it scurried away, and the rest dragged their weapons to counter the danger in the sky.

He watched the walkway drop on the scampering men, forcing them into a narrow corridor.

The others hurried inside a cave-like room, dodging the rubble that fell from the ceiling.

"That’s odd," Benign whispered, keeping his revolver beside him. The soldiers were retreating, not attacking, despite how prepared they had been earlier.

While he knew the first wave could have been a trap to separate him from Suera, there had been no other attempt to stop his firewing from going deeper.

They needed him to go deeper. His opponent wasn’t them.

Benign tapped Freya once, and she slowed down. His opponent wasn’t the soldiers, but something else entirely.

"They are leading us somewhere." He narrowed his eyes at the dark path in front of him.

"Finally." A voice called from the darkness. "I hear you have two combat blessings. One drains your health, and the other requires an open sky."

Benign’s expression changed. Silence reigned between them. His hand tightened around the Blade of Ages.

Lyra’s men might’ve unwillingly exposed that he had Hell Rain, but how did he know about Death Tag? The other General might’ve shared information.

’So they are all working together after all?’

If that were the case, then there’s a good chance the tide of the battle to happen at the Protector’s headquarters would be different.

Not only did the other General know the Hero wasn’t there, but she also knew he was with another General who might never let him leave alive.

She could rain down strongly on the Protectors with one command. Annihilate everything.

Footsteps came from his left. Within the darkness, he noticed a narrow cave opening in a wall.

The General’s silhouette reminded him of a bear.

The man chuckled deeply. "Every attack you made on my sister’s base taught us one more thing about you, Hero. Your blessings. The people you associate with. Your strategies."

He clicked his tongue thrice. "You really should stop teaching your enemies how to kill you."

The silhouette moved.

With a thought, Benign activated his recent skill.

[Unique Skill Unlocked: Borrowed Trait.]

[Allows the Host to temporarily inherit one physical trait possessed by a named companion.]

[Current available trait: Firewing (Freya)]

[Borrowed Trait: Night Vision.]

[Duration: 100 seconds.]

[Cost: 5 HP.]

At that moment, within an instant, he caught the sword sent for his right hand with his left.

The weapon vibrated furiously in his hold till he let go. It swiftly returned to its owner. Benign looked the man over.

His vision took on an unstable green-and-red filter. When he narrowed his eyes, the filter became steadier, revealing a seven-foot, bear-sized man covered in dark clothes and metal armour.

A ridiculous, one-sided grin was etched on his scar-filled face, framed by black curly hair.

"There is definitely a similarity between the siblings.’

"Were you going for my sword?" He tapped his right hand, gripping his sword. "You could’ve asked nicely, and I’ll show you up close."

"Or I take it from your dead and limp body. I am a man of many ideas." The General shrugged before walking down the path by the wall.

Freya followed slowly, while the soldier on her kept his eyes on the man’s every move.

"Will you be releasing the Firewings after having a chat with me? Or what exactly did you want me here for?"

"Surely, you’ll have realized that I wanted you out of the Protector’s headquarters to ascertain my sister’s victory. You took a limb from her once, so she isn’t as confident as she used to be."

Benign scoffed. "You are quite a considerate brother."

"I try."

A cave door slammed open before the General. Meanwhile, in front of Freya, there was a dead end. With a push of a rock, the wall in front of her slid open.

"As for what I’ll have you do to entertain me while my sister kills the ones you should protect... well, that’s up to me, isn’t it? But don’t worry, I’ll be an excellent host."

From his words, the soldier gathered one solid message.

His presence here was simply to stall, and inevitably kill him when the General was bored, simply because they looked down on him as a Hero with two known blessings.

After a Hero like Ashold, who needed more than one page in the system’s status for all his skills, Benign couldn’t blame them for not taking him seriously.

They shouldn’t also blame him when they regret it.

"In all the nonsense, when do you release my Firewings?" He asked clearly.

"After I find them unnecessary to still keep prisoners. I like animals, you see. I find no reason to kill weak creatures if there’s no need."

In other words, when the Hero who came to save them lay dead, he would release the Firewings he used as bait. Benign let out a loud sigh.

"I don’t think I can find a reasonable middle ground with you. We have cross-purposes. I want to save the Firewings and return to the Protectors, while you want to kill me before I return and then release the Firewings."

The General stopped walking.

"It seems the only thing we share in common is that we don’t mind the other dead." Benign continued. "Perhaps we can start finding a middle ground from there?"

The sword floating beside the General pointed its tip toward the soldier. The General threw his head backward. "You are aware that you are in my den."

Benign looked around the cavern. He gazed at the walls, the narrow passages, the darkness, and the soldiers who had deliberately stopped attacking him.

He smiled.

"Are you aware that I am in your den?"