"OOORRRAHHHH!!"
CRUNCH!
Cedric’s warhamr shattered the shell of an incoming Skarnid, its innate hardening spell basically useless.
’This feeling, ahhh!’ Euphoria. Exhilaration. Pure bliss.
Skrrreeee!! Another Skarnid lunged at him.
"FIRST FORM OF THE GALE SERIES."
"GALESTRIKE!" he yelled in ecstasy, swinging his warhamr with the spell layered on it.
The air rippled around his arms as he swung, projecting the compressed air to the head of his hamr.
THUMP!!
"HNNGGHH!" Cedric could feel waves of satisfying vibrations ripple right down through his spine, all the way to the bottom of his feet as the hamr connected with a sickening crunch, splattering the beast’s entire upper body to smithereens.
That was the cleanest hit he had made so far, and he was sure he would do one better again. Right now, he was in the zone. The Galestrike improvisation he created with his warhamr earlier was a testant to that.
He cast that spell on the spot, without thinking. It just felt right.
"This is why n need battles!!" he roared out loud, looking for the next prey. He had improved by leaps and bounds within the few hours of hunting, majorly because he let himself revel in the feeling of the mont.
He turned around, searching for any other Skarnid, but there weren’t any left. The others had scampered into the depths of the forest in fear.
For soone watching the fight, it would’ve been hard to tell who was the predator and who was prey.
"NO! NO!! NOOO!!!" he roared at the top of his lungs like a wounded beast. His dramatics already seeming too far-fetched. But one couldn’t bla him. He was right on the cusp of sothing. He could feel a vague concept from his mana core— specifically his mana nodes— that seed distant and at the sa ti, near. A tip-of-the-tongue kind of feeling. Like he could almost touch it. He just needed a slight push over the edge... but there weren’t any Skarnids left to engage. He could feel himself coming down from the high, the faint feeling fading out of his grasp.
A Word. An understanding.
Permanence? Easily reachable?...
No!
The feeling was slipping. Fading away like a distant dream. Cedric fell to his knees. He knew that was a vital mont. It seed like his mana core was trying to convey an innate part of itself to him— sothing that would change the way he cast magic dramatically... but now that door was closed.
He bowed his head down in his kneeling position like a defeated soldier. Silent.
Slowly, a pair of hands wrapped around his large fra gently in silent consolation.
Cedric didn’t resist. He’d already heard the soft footsteps incoming, and he knew the individual held no malice. He felt nothing of such. As the arms wrapped around him, he already knew who it was by the body scent.
He sighed deeply, reveling in the embrace for a while before he stood up abruptly, eyes already full of vigor again.
He startled Helga, who yelped as he stood.
"Thank you, Helga." He chuckled, ruffling her hair. The visage looked kind of comical with his large size and her small figure.
She smacked his hand away, huffing, before hefting her large warhamr with surprising ease and walking back to Anna with a strut, much to Anna’s amusent.
Cedric stared at his hand, confused, before looking up with an amused smile. Only then did he notice that Anna was also there. He’d heard more than one footstep earlier but only just registered Anna’s presence consciously.
"Hey, Anna." He waved sowhat hesitantly.
Anna caught the slight hesitation and struggled to keep in her laughter.
"So you know to be embarrassed, eh Cedric?"
"Who would’ve thought." She chuckled.
Cedric’s face flushed a few shades deeper as he pointed at her. "How— how much did you see?!"
Anna burst out laughing at his cute display.
"What’s this? Are you for real? You actually have this side to you, Cedric?!" She held her stomach, bowled over in laughter.
"FIRST FORM OF THE GALE SERIES!!—" she mimicked his earlier display.
He cleared his throat in embarrassnt, looking everywhere but at their faces. "Well, since it’s just you two, I have no issues with it."
"Just don’t tell anyone else, please."
"—It’s too late. I saw everything." A voice cut his plea short.
Cedric recoiled in horror as Zephyr stepped out of the shadows with his arms spread wide, a triumphant grin plastered on his face.
"I saw it all. You can’t hide anything." He cackled evilly.
"Zephyr..." Cedric whispered in mock fear before laughing. "For a second there, I almost had a heart attack."
"Nah, you’re my bro, man. You won’t sell out." He waved dismissively, making Zephyr falter.
"—I also saw it all." Another voice cut through.
This ti Cedric felt the hairs at the back of his neck rise.
"Kathelyn!" he shrieked.
She stepped into view with her usual calm, her face devoid of any expression.
Zephyr, Anna and Helga stepped back, content to watch the show gleefully.
"I saw everything, and I have so questions." Her face took on a truly curious look.
"First, why were you yelling the na of the spell out loud? Even down to the na of the series. Does it help with visualization? Better spellcasting? Is that why you could improvise so quickly? Is this your path of progression? If so, I’d advise that you should quit. It’s not sustainable. Also, what enlightennt were you about to reach? Did you touch it? Were you able to grasp a Word?" She fired off a stream of questions, eyes searching his for answers as she walked up to him.
Cedric took a step back with his hands up, an awkward smile on his face.
’What is this girl?’ he thought apprehensively, even though there wasn’t a trace of it on his face.
This wasn’t about keeping his embarrassing secret anymore. She could tell that he was at the cusp of sothing.
Great, anyone with a keen eye could see the sa— even Helga did. What made him wary, and now curious about her, was the fact that she knew he was on the cusp of a Word. There was no way to know that unless she’d also had a similar experience. Either that, or she and Jet had been introduced to the concept in their special class.
He sputtered out so excuses to each of her questions to pacify her, but it didn’t. She only relented of her own volition after staring deeply into his eyes for a while.
"Hm... You didn’t get it." She concluded, leaning back before nodding to Zephyr and the girls and disappearing into the darkness of the woods like a ghost.
"Okayyyy?" Anna dragged out.
"What just happened?" She looked at everyone with a questioning gaze, expecting so answers.
"Haaaa. Who knows, man. The girl’s just naturally weird." Cedric shook his head, earning him a wry look from Anna and Helga.
"Look who’s talking."
They all laughed, putting the small fiasco behind them, moving on to talking about their kills so far, but the whole ti Zephyr couldn’t keep his thoughts straight.
’Word... Word... Word.’ he kept repeating in his mind.
’I have to find out what a Word is.’
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