Chapter 50: Without Doubts!

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

The General’s head snapped toward him, his smirk gone and replaced by a hard line across his lips. "So you’ll play it that way."

The sword in his hand went forth. Freya rushed through the cave entrance, dodging the weapon narrowly.

At that moment, everything vanished around the soldier. Freya first, then his sense of balance, as he came crashing down.

He gripped the rough cave wall, bruising slightly, before he fell to the ground with a small thud. His heart hammered against his ribs, still struggling to catch up with what had happened.

Benign turned to the only source of light above him. There was nothing else but walls and walls. And of course, the General.

His weapons remained in his hand, but everything else was gone. His fingers tightened around the Blade of Ages. He had seen this phenomenon before.

When the old man had led him to his first trial.

That strange place where everything vanished except his weapon, forcing him to figure out alone what kind of hell he had been dragged into.

His eyes swept over the place. There was truly nothing.

Not even Freya. "Freya?" he called anyway, and his voice echoed back to him in the darkness.

A heavy sound answered him. Benign looked up at the General, who now had an oddly familiar companion with him. From its silhouette, he deduced it was a creature.

A creature he still didn’t understand how big its size was. The hind legs struck the ground with enough force to send dust across the floor, and the General’s laughter echoed around the space.

"I still cannot believe it," the General said. "The Hero himself walked straight into my trap because of a few birds. It’s almost too comical."

Benign’s eyes narrowed. "Birds?"

The General smiled, and the creature growled beside him. The soldier watched the creature step out of the darkness. A cheetah.

His eyes shifted downwards as similarly sized cheetahs walked out from the darkness. Then another, and another.

Dozens of them emerged from different parts of the cave, their paws striking the ground as they surrounded him.

They were larger than the cheetahs Benign remembered from Earth, only slightly taller but much heavier, with bodies built like oversized predators and limbs still shaped for terrifying speed.

The largest one remained beside the General. It looked almost like a tiger stretched into the body of a cheetah.

The others lowered their bodies, preparing to pounce.

Benign raised his revolver. His head remained clear of thoughts that could trigger his doubt.

The first cheetah moved.

BANG!

The bullet tore through its shoulder. Before the creature could fall, another came from the side, lunging at the soldier. Benign twisted away and swung the Blade of Ages.

SHING!

The blade cut across its chest, spraying blood across the ground. Another cheetah jumped through the blood.

Benign ducked. Its claws passed over his head.

He fired upward.

BANG! BANG!

The beast crashed behind him. He barely left the ground when two more rushed him. He stepped between them, cutting one across the throat before kicking the other in the jaw.

His boots slid across the blood-covered floor as he turned toward the next wave.

’They are fast.’

Too fast, and his eyes could only follow the movement with the help of the Borrowed Trait that took his HP per 100 seconds. He fired again.

BANG! BANG!

Only one fell. The other dodged the shot and increased its pace toward him. "Come on!" He slashed. The Blade of Ages struck bone, and the cheetah screamed.

Benign pulled the sword free and immediately moved again for the one already breathing down his neck.

He couldn’t stop. The moment he stopped, they would surround him. The moment they surrounded him, he would die.

He shook his head, forcing the thoughts away. There was no room for doubt. Any bit would slow him down and ensure death.

The deliberate sneer from the General watching him boiled his blood, but he remained focused on his movements.

His eyes searched the darkness while he fought, searching for the next victim, when his vision faltered once.

’Freya?’

He couldn’t ascertain if something was happening to her, or if the distance between them was growing.

The second option seemed more likely. He spared an instant to glance at the General before dragging his eyes back. The man must be taking them away.

He tried to focus using the Night Vision he had borrowed from Freya. Then the green tint began fading, and the soldier’s heart dropped.

"No." He looked around. The vision became weaker.

"No, no, no."

Freya was moving further away. The connection between them was stretching thinner by the second.

A cheetah lunged. Benign shot it through the skull before it landed.

Another came from behind, and he spun, cut it down, and flung his side to the right, cleaning it of the excess blood.

His breathing became rough. ’Where did they take her?’

Freya wasn’t just transportation. She was his only way to use that borrowed trait and the only connection to the other Firewings.

If she was taken away, then the distance would eventually make her useless to him and him useless to her. Even Sierra would be trapped here.

"Where is she?" he barked.

The cheetahs froze. The only one beside the General came in front of its master, earning a deep guffaw from the man.

Benign glared at him. The man hadn’t moved and simply watched and laughed as if he were presenting a comedy.

"I asked you a fucking question."

"Your concern for a creature is almost touching."

"And your lie that you care for creatures, but you don’t hesitate to use them as a prop for your entertainment is almost hilarious."

"It was either my sister’s cheetahs or your Firewings."

Benign fired at him. The bullet struck the General’s sword, which he brought in front of the nick of time.

CLANG!

The General’s smile widened. "Focus on your enemies, Hero."

"Get down first."

The General’s sword lowered to his side. He leaned down. "You don’t want me down there with you, Hero."

"Try me."