Hyperion Evergrowing-Chapter 197: Real Adventurers

The morning of the next day came and Hylon was awoken to the uncomfortable sensation of a wooden cane being jabbed into his ribs. His sleep deprived mind tried to ignore the repetitive jabs, but their insistence and force increased with every second he did so.

“Ugh.” He groaned, rolling over to try and escape. “It’s too early.”

“It’s never too early for training.”

“It’s never too early to grow a conscience.”

By reflex Hylon twisted, bringing an arm up to catch the hardened length of wood aiming for the back of his head. He caught Silas’ cane, but at the cost of a jolt of pain shooting through his hand and down his arm from the force of the blow.

“Damnit old man, that would have caved my skull in.”

“It’s good then that it didn’t.” Silas said, and even as Hylon’s eyes slowly grew adapted to the half-light of not quite dawn, he could tell that his grandfather was grinning by the tone of his voice.

He pulled off the blanket that had gotten tangled around his feet, then stood, taking a quick swing of water from his waterskin to parch the thirst brought about by the night. Four shadowed figures milled around, having already been awakened, five if he counted Silas.

Quietly, though not silently, they followed the old man away from where their siblings still slept, and began the morning's training. Not all of Silas’ charges were aspiring adventurers, many were too young to seriously consider that particular path. Hylon and Rou had taken up their adoptive grandfather's offer of training immediately when he had made it, with Cerri having initially declined, only to belatedly join in a month later.

Shen and Claude, the final two misfortunate enough to have been tricked down this path of pain and misery were both boys of thirteen, and not quite old enough to gain their first class. Still, they joined in on the training, just as Hylon had done two years prior.

Silas directed them to an open yard next to what had once been some sort of stables, though the wooden structure hadn’t survived turbulence unscathed so it was hard to be sure. Then they trained, group exercises, paired spars, weight lifting and lap running. It was nothing unusual, but the pace Silas demanded they maintain was taxing to the extreme, even if the old man did tailor their exercises with their limits in mind.

Hylon did the motions, the movement of his body waking him even if it was uncomfortable, the crisp morning air staving off sleepiness. By the time the sun rose, the first light of dawn cresting the horizon, it was all he could do not to fall over. He was so damn tired, even if it was mostly his own fault.

He and his siblings ate breakfast among their carts and animals, a slow trickle of the past day’s volunteers arriving in small groups. Hylon stifled a yawn as he directed a pair of stocky men in their mid thirties on proper footwork for fighting with a spear. They were [Labourer]s, their levels and experience working in the fields giving them an advantage in raw [Might] over several of the other volunteers.

They improved quickly in the short time he instructed them, and he made a mental note to recommend them to Silas once they hit the road.

===

The morning passed as everyone prepared to depart, a trickle of people arriving from nearby villages bolstering the ranks of the subjugation force. The town guard handed out weapons, two elders made a speech with thinly veiled complaints about how things were moving too quickly for their liking.

Hylon’s excitement built, they were actually doing this, and he and his family had helped make it happen. It was a real difference. They were making a real difference. It was everything a much younger version of him would have wanted.

And then a party of a dozen adventurers from a guild Hylon didn’t recognise rode into town, a middle aged woman with a streak of silver running through her jet black hair at their head. She proclaimed herself the daughter of a local count, and everything fell apart.

Their departure was delayed by a day as the newcomers restarted the debate about the best course of action. Then the wasted day became a second. Restlessness grew, both within himself and those around him. He trained, it was all he could do. The mountains seemed to loom larger with every wasted hour. ꭆ₳Nộ𝔟Ê𝘚

===

Hylon snuck away from the part of town his family had commandeered once he was fairly sure everyone was asleep. Spear wrapped and tied to his back, he slunk through town and up over the earthen bulwark that defended the settlement. He slid down the other side, the pale moonlight of season illuminating his way, though much of its unmarred side was obscured by clouds.

He jogged away from the town, seeking out the location he had used every night since arriving. Rain began to shower as he reached a cluster of trees several hundred metres from the settlement’s outskirts, the sound of water gently striking the canopy overhead mixing with the usual ambiance of the evening. Insects chirped, nocturnal birds hooted, small mammals scurried through the undergrowth.

Having found privacy, Hylon unwrapped his spear and begun his evening training. It didn’t matter how tired he felt in the morning, how difficult pushing himself so often was, he had to push himself to reach his goal. His spear whirled through the night air, the weapon’s head blurring forward in a series of quick jabs, then an overhead block against an imaginary opponent with its haft. Hylon went faster and faster, picturing every lesson he had ever learnt from Silas as he spun and struck.

The world fell away as he danced alone, nothing mattered except the strain of his muscles, the exertion of his breath, the sweat staining his brow. He lunged, lancing the spear through the heart of a monster only he could see, and then he slumped, exhausted against a nearby tree.

With a mental command the system window of beige and greens appeared before his mind’s eye, but there was no progress to note. He sighed, but wasn’t disappointed. The journey couldn’t be rushed, he had known from the beginning that it would take years, if not decades for him to reach his destination. But he was so close to taking the first real step, he even had a promotion seal, in Silas’ possession, for when he finally reached the level cap.

Unless the dungeon changes that. He thought, the back of his head thumping against smooth bark. Silas knows too. He wants this opportunity for all of us, maybe even himself.

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Hylon closed his eyes, breathing out as his racing heart slowed. Five minutes, then he would do another set. The night was still young..

A furred form burst from between two nearby bushes, teeth glinting, eyes aglow with madness and pain. Hylon yelped, leaping to his feet, only for the thing to crash into the ground, sliding several metres before coming to a stop, its body unmoving.

Hylon blinked down at it, his spear slack in his grasp. Then he glanced up at the masked figure crouched atop the creature’s back, white blade embedded into the spine of the beast. Brown eyes met partially hidden orange, the two staring at one another for several seconds.

“Uh, hi?” Hylon said, breaking eye contact to look down at the beast, an evolved wolf by the look of it.

“Hello.” The masked adventurer said, her voice hesitant. She pulled her sword from the wolf’s back with a flourish that sent an arc of blood splashing into the ground. It looked to be made of some sort of off-white metal, but he couldn’t think of what it might be.

“What… what are you doing?”

“What are you doing?” She replied.

“Training…?”

“Right. Same here.”

There was an awkward silence.

“That’s cool. Do you… hunt evolved beasts often?” He asked, but that wasn’t the only thing he was curious about. Where had the wolf even come from? Relatively strong it may be, he knew that its kind never drew close to human settlements.

“I prefer monsters.”

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“I see. Did… did you see any more of them around?” He asked, nodding at the wolf.

She shrugged one shoulder. “This one ran after I killed the others. You should be safe.”

Hylon stared. There had been others? He swallowed thickly, maybe he had been too casual with his choice of location to train in. The adventurer brushed a lock of dark hair back behind her mask. Then she turned and walked away without a word, vanishing from his senses the instant she broke line of sight.

Was this what it took to be a real adventurer? Even though one of his classes was [Trainee], was he wasting his time not actively using his skills in real combat against real foes? The pitter patter of rain grew in intensity.

Hylon waited over a minute, then looked at the corpse the adventurer had left behind. “Shit.” He cursed. “I forgot her name.”

===

The group that departed for the mountains numbered over fifty individuals, with two thirds being combatants. They snaked through the countryside, angling to visit as many villages as possible on the journey to the Varan Mountains. It took three days to reach the base of the range, snow tipped peaks towering over the landscape.

A basecamp was created, adventurers and those volunteers that had joined them creating the fortified position alongside a bubbling stream being fed a constant supply of snowmelt. They now numbered over a hundred, and more were coming.

Hylon didn’t see Silas much since they departed from the town they had been staying at, the old man having firmly cemented his place among the expedition's leadership. Though he was far from the only one with influence over the upcoming subjugation, a fact he loudly complained about during his short visits to make sure his charges were staying out of trouble.

“Hey.” Cerri said as she sat beside him around one of the camp’s large communal fires. “Think we’ll be on the same team? For the raid?”

He had to finish chewing a mouthful of bread and mountain crab stew before he could answer. “Probably. Why wouldn’t we be together?” He scooped up another spoonful of stew, blowing on it briefly, sending the steam dispersing into the air.

“I dunno.” She said, “I overheard some guildies saying that due to the lack of healers they would need to prioritise who goes where.”

“Silas won’t let it happen to you.” Hylon replied, his eyes absently scanning the crowd. “You know he won’t.”

Cerri sighed. “I hope so.”

“Mhmm. Get some stew, it’s pretty good. We have so much meat from that massive herd of crabs we encountered back in the foothills.”

“Nah, I ate earlier with the kids.”

Hylon nodded, continuing to eat. He wasn’t nervous, not quite, excited was probably the correct word, though not a complete description of his thoughts. Tomorrow. They would ascend the nearby slope and navigate to wherever the dungeon was. The masked adventurer knew its location, but he hadn’t seen her since the night outside of town. Though he couldn’t say he wasn’t interested, it took a certain type of person to hunt and fight by themselves.

Something nudged his side, and he jolted in surprise. “What?”

Cerri rolled her eyes. “You’re too distracted, what's up?”

“Huh? I’m not distracted.”

“Oh? Then what did I just say?”

“...That I’m too distracted.”

“Before that, idiot.”

Hylon frowned. “That you ate with the kids?”

“You can admit you didn’t hear me.”

“Fine, fine. Sorry. What did you say?”

Cerri pursed her lips. “Doesn’t matter, don’t worry about it.”

“Right.”

“So what were you thinking about?” She asked.

“Nothing much. Just about the dungeon. I wanted to find the masked adventurer and ask her about it, but I haven't seen her at all.”

“You mean the girl that’s hard to look at?”

“Yeah, she has a skill of some kind. And what do you mean ‘girl’? She’s an experienced adventurer.” Hylon said. “And not the Jed kind of experienced, real experience. I saw… uh, I mean I can tell.”

Cerri raised an eyebrow, giving him a disapproving look that he didn’t think was justified. “She’s around our age, moron.”

“What? No way, she’s significantly stronger. She’s easily a year or two older.”

“Yes way. Are you blind?”

“Are you going to tell me that you know because of some weird bone magic thing?”

“No, I’m just not an idiot.”

“Hey guys!” Rou called as the large boy awkwardly navigated around several full benches. He somehow had two bowls of stew in each hand, and a loaf of bread tucked under his arm.

Cerri stood. “Rou, you ate when I did! Put that down.”

“But I’m hungry?” He said, tilting his head to the side, almost spilling one of the bowls in the process.

Cerri reached for two of the bowls when the world suddenly shook, the ground rumbling, small stones jumping as they were loosened by the onset of powerful vibrations. The shaking didn’t last for more than a handful of seconds, but the whole camp fell silent. A dozen bird-like creatures took flight from a distant ridge, their haunting cries echoing as they fled skywards. Dust rose along the mountainside as several boulders tumbled down the rugged slopes.

They were out of time. The break was happening. Somewhere in the mountains, a disaster that threatened the lives of thousands loomed. Hylon took off running towards where he had left his spear, and as he did so, the camp exploded into frantic activity.