"Everyone, stop!" Daren shouted; his hand raised to draw in the attention of those around him, "We will be taking another break before continuing our march, rest up, there is only a short distance left!" he finished, then walked towards the front of the remaining group of humans in this plane.
"Master Horun, it's not looking good, the conditions of the weaker and injured folks are nearing their limits. If we don't find a sufficient amount of food, and some drinkable water soon, then we will lose the majority of our force before we even arrive..." Daren held his forehead, none of them were feeling great, having to split the few fruits they came across, and going without a drop of water for days.
Kassan drove his hand through the knee-high swamp, it trickled out of his palm, "Marquis Gomon, you said it wasn't possible to turn the water here into something clean?"
"Aye. At least not for me." he croaked.
"Hah. You know it's bad when even the egocentric old man has too little energy to go on a rant." Winny smirked.
Marquis Gomon glared at her, silently affirming her jabs at him.
"Please stop, we cannot afford to turn on each other when our numbers are already decimated." Daren tried to remind them of their situation, he glanced farther back into their formation, at Plamus and Reyna, who were keeping a distance from them.
It wasn't hard to discern that Plamus looked at them with scorn in his eyes, but Daren had a hard time figuring out exactly why... from everything he had heard, it was that trio that started the aggressions by trying to kill Frey back before things took a turn for the worse.
Even Hadrian's death alone wouldn't matter so much to him, at least that was how Daren had judged his personality.
A single rank three mage could make a massive difference, yet here they were, at odds with each other.
Daren locked eyes with Reyna, offering her a nod and a faint smile before turning back to the warriors.
"Look at them, strategizing amongst themselves." Reyna observed Daren and the other rank three mages, "And then there is you, forced to tag along like an obedient dog."
"Shut it." Plamus growled, his mood had hit rock bottom, he was forced to evenly split every single Delightful Death fruit they found with the whole group, all because the people here followed the blind Kassan Horun and overshadowed him and whatever decisions he would like to make.
"Won't you tell me what you are planning? It's not like you to move at another's whim without getting something in return. You don't plan on dying for 'the betterment of humanity', or whatever they are feeding to those fanatics from the church, do you?" Reyna poked at him with her finger, with each touch she noticed Plamus' face scrounging up, getting a tiny bit more irritated.
"Heh. I guess that's all there is to you. When it comes down to it, you are no different from those weaklings, getting pushed around, and having your life dictated by someone else."
"Reyna!" Plamus flared up, rattling the people nearby, but they quickly lowered their heads to avoid drawing his anger.
A good chunk of the survivors came from Plamus' camp, which meant that they had seen how he treats those loyal to him, and those that aren't...
She pulled her arm back, instead giving him a mocking smile, "Don't regret your inaction later on when they sell you out for their own goals, they don't care in the slightest about whether you or I live, think back to the attack on the camp, imagine what would have happened, had you been unable to deal with the rank three creatures on your own. They would have left you to die, because they prioritise only themselves."
Plamus gnashed his teeth, he touched his stomach, the gaping wound that was still hurting, then mumbled something inaudible as Reyna walked away from him to approach Kassan's group.
"Master Horun, I would like to make a suggestion." she spoke.
"Oh? Miss Ironhoof, right?" Kassan turned his head to face the direction of her voice, this was the first time she talked to him without Plamus present.
"Mhm. Reyna Ironhoof. I believe it is in our best interest to continue moving, even if it will be taxing on some of us." she answered.
Daren frowned at the implications of her words, "They will die if they continue to overexert themselves."
Reyna shrugged, "Die now, die later, it all leads to the same outcome. But for those of us that still have the energy to spare, we should move before we become the target of an ambush. We all now know how unpredictable the locals are."
Kassan took a deep breath; he knew this moment would come...
"I am against this. We could use every man and woman we can get." Daren shook his head, but he noticed a peculiar expression on Winny's face.
"Anyone that isn't a mage won't even make a dent on these monsters; we are on our own." Reyna looked at Daren then sighed, "I am not looking to start a fight, I merely wanted to make my opinion known."
"Is that your opinion or Plamus'?" Daren asked frustrated.
She scoffed, "Does it matter?"
"I feel terrible admitting it, but I am afraid that she is right." Kassan joined in.
"Wha- Master Horun?!" Daren stumbled over his words.
Kassan knitted his eyebrows, "She is making sense, out of consideration for the rest, we are losing our overall strength."
Daren stared at him, at a loss for words, "Don't worry, I won't make you order them to march on, that's the burden I shall carry as the leader." Kassan waited for a moment, giving the others a chance to voice their thoughts, but Winny and Marquis Gomon stayed out of the conversation, so he walked towards the centre of the remaining humans.
He could not see any of them, but he could feel their hopeful and desperate gazes linger on him.
"We are about to tackle the final stretch." his words hushed all murmurs, "It has been hard on all of you, a tough journey where we lost countless comrades, friends, possibly more." he ruefully shook his head, "Our expedition into this plane has gone completely awry, our assumptions of the locals were off by a huge margin, and as your leader, I take full responsibility for this misjudgement."
"That's not true!" his followers erupted in a flurry of disagreement.
Kassan smiled, "Despite everything your loyalty is still unwavering, I am truly moved beyond words. Our bodies are running on their last reserves, we are staring death right in the face, but this isn't our first time doing so!"
The crowd cheered, some whistled, "And it won't be the last time!" Kassan continued, speaking over the clamour, "No matter what happens, hold on to your hope. We will make it out of here alive, you will return home to your loved ones, and if you don't, then I promise you that His Majesty will ensure that each and every single one of them is taken care of. They won't need to worry about money, about a home, food or work! We will all be hailed as heroes, as the pioneers that ventured into this plane and laid the groundwork for its conquest! Humanity will eternalize us in our history books, they will remember who they have to thank for progressing towards a brighter future, a stronger kingdom!"
Kassan raised his fist, "We will storm the home of these monsters, and we will show them the might of humanity! We will carve fear and respect into their very bones!"
The warriors rose to their feet, even the injured tried to, and lifted their fists into the air, "Destroy them all!"
"We'll get to stand proud in our gods' kingdoms!"
"For the gods! For the crown!"
The men and women roared in excitement as Kassan finished his speech, their physical conditions were deteriorating, but their spirits had returned to an all-time high, prepared to face death alongside their allies!
"Now let us march!" Kassan shouted while returning to the front, Daren scowled, but he led the group with Marquis Gomon, behind them the warriors were waddling through the swamp, carrying their comrades who were unable to walk by themselves.
They moved as quietly as they could, but despite their best efforts to minimise their noise, as to not draw in the locals, it was impossible to eliminate all sound.
Each step was accompanied by the splashing of water and exhausted grunts, as they struggled to free their feet from the wet and sticky dirt that made up the bed beneath the green murky liquid.
Parts of clanking armour were removed, piece by piece, as the weight became unbearable, and the humid air caused them to feel stuffy and sweaty.
They resorted to utilizing their weapons as crutches to support themselves, stabbing them into the unseen waters for balance.
Daren's head was hanging low, he found himself unable to focus on playing his role of a guide, when the only thing following behind him was pain and suffering, he flinched as he felt a hand on his shoulder, "Kas- Master Horun?"
"You are a kind soul." Kassan said, "The world could use more like you, but please don't let this cloud your mind and weigh you down. All of us were prepared to lay our lives down when we first entered this plane... the same cannot be said about you and the other young mages."
Daren sighed, "Many families have lost their successor, or at least a candidate for the next head... Contrary to what His Majesty wanted, this competition was a big setback for humanity. On that note, what exactly was our king's goal? Reshuffling territory so easily always struck me as nonsensical."
Kassan removed his hand from Daren's shoulder, then hesitated for a while, "His Majesty... he never told me why he was holding this competition, truthfully I assumed it was a pretext to support our endeavour to siphon this world's resources, just to hasten the conquest, in order to produce new ran-" he clutched his chest, his face contorted, "Argh!" he clenched his teeth, trying to suppress the pain that shot through his body as a strange grey rune pattern appeared on his skin.
It vanished a moment later, the others were unable to notice, but Daren was looking right at him, "Are you alright?!" he stepped closer, but Kassan held up his hand to stop him, "Its effects apply even when we are worlds apart..." he mumbled.
"What was that?" Daren's heart was beating erratically, Kassan was their main pillar of support that everyone had gathered around, not only because of his strength but also due to his modest and likeable personality.
"I'm fine, its nothing." Kassan shrugged him off.
Daren recoiled, "That didn't look like nothing! Are you sick? Should we take another break?"
"No really, I'm good. It was just a slip of the tongue... something I am not supposed to talk about." Kassan spoke while swiping his fingers beneath his nose to check for blood, but there was nothing.
"There is a restriction on you? Such magic exists?" Daren frowned, and Kassan merely gestured with his hand for them to stop talking about this.
"Was it His Majesty that set the restriction?" he followed up with another question, but was only met with silence, not even a nod or a shake of the head, "Alright, I'll stop asking."
He focused back on the task at hand, but not a moment later a loud splash stopped everyone in their tracks...
"Get them out!"
"Quick!"
Shouting from halfway down the formation made Daren rush to the source, he weaved through the warriors that could barely stand upright, then spotted two submerged in the water, and others hurrying to fish them out.
One started coughing as he was pulled out, buckets of water flooding out of his mouth and nose, his eyes were half-closed, a look of resignation flashed within them.
The other had wounds across his body, one of the injured, but as Daren pressed his finger against the guy's artery on the side of his neck, he felt the absence of a pulse.
"He- he was carrying him... and... he lost his strength..." one of the warriors' lips quivered as he held the deathly still body of his ally.
"Make him puke the water out! Fast!" another warrior rushed closer, removing the helmet of the former, then pushed two fingers down his throat to trigger the gag reflex.
"Sto-" the man that ingested the water cried out, but he was too slow, and soon involuntarily emptied out his stomach, he retched, looking worse for wear, he was shaking, saliva dripped out of his open mouth, his eyes were red, and tears stained his face, "Jus' l-leave me 'ehind... 'm done for."
"There's no way we'd do that! You're getting through this! And then we'll sip some ale back in Astafor, ya hear me?" another warrior looked at him with a tearful gaze, "Come now, let's get you up, can't keep the bigshots up front waitin' for us, eh?" he slung his buddy's arm around his neck and helped him get back to his feet, then turned to Daren, "Sorry 'bout the hold-up..."
"I'll drag us both down." the first spoke while his legs trembled.
The second turned back to him, "Nonsense. Think happy thoughts and leave the rest to me."
But Daren didn't hear either of them, he was focused on the other man that had passed away, who was lying there, his corpse embraced by another, who was weeping bitterly at the loss.
He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth, fighting to hold his own tears back, and when he opened them, he looked through the rest, he was looking for one particular soul... Marv.
"Let me take over for you." Daren said to the warrior carrying the injured blood-mage.
Marv was riddled with wounds, almost beyond recognition, it was a miracle that his heart was beating when Daren had found him, and even more so that he held on for this long.
"Thank you..." the warrior exhaled and breathed easier, as the weight was gone from his shoulders, transferred to Daren.
"We will... hup... march on, get ready." he spoke while shifting Marv's weight, he glanced at the fallen, but this was Kassan's decision.
Marquis Gomon and Winny eyed him curiously as he returned to lead the group, yet only Kassan spoke up, "What are you doing? You should be preserving your energy." he could feel another aura radiating from him and instantly guessed what he was doing.
Daren flashed him a pained smile, "I'm worried about his safety, you see, there is a young man whose heart might break from grief should anything happen to this guy. Also, I am not using spells to conserve my energy already, so please don't stop me from doing this."
Kassan grumbled while scratching his head, "Fine..." he sighed.
The group continued moving, slogging through the swamp, but they did not leave anyone behind, even as the casualties mounted, and the last bit of energy left a part of the wounded, they kept carrying their fallen.
The water turned shallow, and the earthen ground became flat, "Wait!" Marquis Gomon spread his arms in front of the other rank threes, then carefully inspected the plants, the bushes and the tall grass, "It should be here."
Daren set Marv down, leaning him against a nearby tree, then approached the Marquis, "You are right, where is the marker we left?" he said as he looked for the giant 'X' he had marked both on the ground and on a nearby tree, but neither was here anymore...
"Could you be mistaken?" Kassan asked.
"Not a chance." Marquis Gomon answered, sounding extremely confident in his judgement, he squatted onto the ground, and ran his fingers through the wet dirt.
"Please step aside for a moment." Daren spoke up as a small lively cloud gathered in his palm.
Marquis Gomon hopped to the side, "Stand clear!" he shouted to the others behind them.
Daren threw the cloud at the ground, it dug its way into the soft earth, giving him just enough time to cover his ears, before it detonated, blowing chunks into all directions.
He moved his hand from left to right, commanding a gust of wind to carry away the smokescreen.
"I'll be damned." Marquis Gomon walked closer, "I'd wager this is why your expedition never found anything... they closed up the ground." he looked at the small crater that revealed the entrance to another tunnel.
"What devious creatures." Kassan inched towards the edge, where he felt the rough outlines of the hole, "They might be far more intelligent than we had expected... let's just hope this was their natural instinct, and not a deliberate decision."
He stood up, "Soldiers into formation! We are about to enter the lair of these pests! Watch your backs and watch someone else's back too!"
Marquis Gomon stepped next to him, "They must surely know we are coming, expect hordes of locals inside, ranging from rank one to rank three! Leave the dangerous ones to us and focus on the rest. Keep your calm when we enter the dark tunnels, and even more so, once we arrive at the inner chamber! Follow your orders, and we can increase our chances of survival!"