Chapter 288 - Torchbearer (1/2)

As Li emerged out of the Vukanovi, the first thing that immediately struck his notice was not Lira nor the Fthagguan corpse. No, it was the atmosphere around him. Tia was right. The air here was cold.

Not temperature wise, but in a way fundamentally deeper, beyond the physical, perhaps spiritual, perhaps even beyond that. There was a sense of coldness that leeched past the confines of his human meat puppet and into the heart of his being.

It was one that was deeply familiar, chilling in a calming, soothing, comforting way. A pinprick numbing sensation he had not felt in quite a while.

Eldritch power.

Lira's voice cut through the air. ”State your purpose.”

There was a slight hint of authority in her voice, but it was not an unfriendly one.

Li hopped down from the Vukanovi, his feet landing upon the hard, cracked earth below. He was wary of Lira, for as he tried to scan her status, he realized he could not. She had anti-warding and magic resistance sufficiently strong enough to negate his status check spell which, though simple, was still B ranked, making it quite far above anything regularly known in this world.

”I am only here to pass by,” said Li. He could not afford a large-scale conflict here, not with the Vukanovi behind him. ”Heading to the Hinterlands.”

”The Hinterlands? I suppose that is fine. But I will have to take a closer look at you,” said Lira. ”It has been over a century since any have ever traversed this broken path, so you must understand my wariness.”

Lira leaped up from the Fthagguan corpse. She soared high in the air, travelling forwards in a graceful arc and landing a few meters away from Li. When she stood up, she was slightly taller than even Li.

As their eyes met, he noticed her face. Conventionally pretty, as it were, yet a large burn twisted her right cheek and a long, jagged scar ran down from her forehead, past her eye, and down pat her mouth, warping the once shapely lips to an odd angle.

Most strikingly though, were her eyes that shone bright with the all the colors of the rainbow glimmering together in a gemstone like shine. Li did not recognize where those eyes came from or what kind of power they belonged to.

Nothing about Lira felt off in the sense that all her power seemed to belong to this world, so her eyes must have been blessed with a magic developed solely on this world.

A few seconds after Lira's gaze settled on Li's eyes, her brow raised in surprise, then recognition, then that feeling traveled through her whole body in a current of action that had her switch up into a battle stance, feet square and spear-torch held with the sharp spear side thrust towards Li's throat.

”No…,” whispered Lira through her teeth. ”You are one of them.” She clenched her jaw not in anger, but in nervous worry. ”Then I have failed,” she said to herself.

”One of what?” Li looked down at the spear point, knowing conflict was near. He mentally bid the Vukanovi to scramble back as fast as it could to make some distance.

”One of them,” said Lira with venom in her voice as her eyes flitted back, motioning to the Fthagguan corpse near the spatial flux. ”And seeing you, the sheer amount of power flowing through you, I know you are more than a mere messenger or emissary. You are the real deal. An Old One.”

”So what?” said Li, hiding his surprise. Precious few could ever sense that side of him for it was buried beneath both his human vessel and his more forward forest and life attuned side. To date, it had only been Zagan that had known quickly, and that was because he had exposure to eldritch forces.

”So,” said Lira resolutely. ”You die.”

”I assure you.” Li shook his head slowly, each side-to-side motion a charged threat. ”You do not want this fight.”

”No. I do not want to fight. But I must.” Lira saw through Li, behind him, but kept her spear point still inches away from Li's throat. ”I will wait. Until that familiar and the mortal lives residing within are gone.”

”Then so be it,” said Li. ”Know that in the end, I gave you a chance to stand down.”

Lira did not speak anymore, honing her attention on Li as she kept the tense standoff between them, her spear near his neck and him standing tall, almost casually, his hands straightened, ready to cast magic or act at a moment's notice.

The standoff lasted half a minute, enough time for the Vukanovi to have covered significant distance, and at that moment, Li sensed a shift in the atmosphere and moved his hand to grab the spear. He did grab the spear, but not before it had sunk deep enough into his throat to have been a lethal wound for any normal human.

Li blinked in surprise as he immediately began to use more of his physical stats, breaking past the limiters he set on himself when fighting lower leveled mortals. He gripped the spear tight in his fist so that Lira could not withdraw it.