Chapter 339 By The Campfire

"Rune Cannon Mode: 'Hasta La Vista'!" Blimpo announced as he pulled the trigger.

A flash of sparks roared out with the coming of a spray of explosive pellets that immediately chained into swirling fits of flashing flames against the crustacean's sturdy shell.

The large crab stumbled back after being pelted by dozens of small-scale, harsh explosions; its shell was burnt and left cracking, peeling apart at the seams.

"All yours, friend!" Blimpo called out.

Amidst the flying sparks and new aroma of cooked crab from the billowing smoke, Joel leapt in without hesitation, plunging his sword through the brittled armor of the large crustacean.

The blade slid straight in, neutralizing the brain of the steaming crab as Joel stood still for a moment.

"Phew," he exhaled, withdrawing his sword.

As the silver-haired, youthful man turned around, the blonde elf was standing there with a smile, flipping his goggles up and raising a hand for a celebratory high-five.

Joel accepted it, slapping his hand triumphantly, "Nice work—your gadgets are pretty awesome, I guess."

"Thanks! Same with your sword skills," Blimpo chuckled.

—

The colossal, crimson crab was a breed of its own, moving rapidly with its four legs and continuously swiping and clamping its mighty claws towards both the Dragonheart and the nimble assassin.

"Burn!"

Unleashing a fire spell straight against its body, Emilio poured the bright-orange flames out, realizing it wasn't stopping the crustacean before he morphed his flames to adapt just as the creature tried to retaliate. The spewed fire shifted into a flaming net, wrapping around the crab's abnormally shaped body.

"Helios Net."

The constricting bands of fire restrained the movement of the crustacean's arms, though it fought back greatly.

"…Dragonheart…will fall…" The crab echoed its bellowing words,

"I'll be damned if a crab is the reason I fail!" He shouted.

While the talking crustacean began to tear through its bindings, Vandread swiftly took its back with his silent approach, sinking his daggers into its eyes as it let out a high-pitched screech.

No words had to be said for him to follow up while Vandread wrangled it, using the daggers stuck in its sockets like a guide to steering the oversized creature while it thrashed from its bindings, trying to clamp the man atop it.

Emilio brushed his hand against the road below, creating a spear of rock from it and imbuing fire through it before he launched it forward, amplifying its velocity with a burst of wind: "Javelin of Ares."

Breaking through the sound barrier, it left the Dragonheart's grip and pierced through the crab's body in an instant, thrusting through the crab and pulling it back along with the spear's overwhelming momentum.

Vandread hopped off of the creature's back just before the tip of the spear lodged itself against one of the translucent trees, pinning the crab with it.

"Gotcha," Emilio sighed out quietly.

All of the remaining crabs scattered with the fall of the behemoth crustacean, bringing the others to follow as Emilio approached the pierced giant.

The crab leaked dark-blue blood from between the cracks in its crimson armor, gurgling, "...Dragonheart will fall…King of Spades…seeks it…"

Those last, ominous words of the sentient crab were spoken before its life finally washed out, leaving a name on the mind of the others.

"'King of Spades'?" Joel put his hand to his chin.

"Ring a bell?" Asher asked the others.

Vandread didn't have an answer, nor did he say as much as he only stabbed a dagger into the crab's head for assurance that the beast was dead.

"Whoever this 'King of Spades' is, they know where I'm going and what I'm trying to do, and more importantly–they don't like it, for some reason," Emilio said.

"Then they're an enemy," Vandread said, wiping the blue blood off of its dagger.

"We can discuss that–but first, how about setting up camp for the 'night'?" Blimpo asked, referring to "night" simply as the time for rest.

Although time was of the essence, such limitations of time were factored in with required rest, and especially after the eventful things that had happened, Emilio couldn't help but agree.

It wasn't a bad area to set up for camp; there was light-blue grass, overlooked by the translucent, glowing trees that provided light and a sense of comfort foreign to most of the After.

Emilio clapped his hands a few times, casually creating a campsite with walls around them and a doorway, along with proper stumps in the ground to rest on.

"Magic sure is convenient," Joel said, plopping down.

"Ain't it?" Blimpo responded before dumping quite a few dead crabs down near the fire.

Vandread was proficient enough at creating campfires that he completely declined from Emilio simply weaving one with magic, though the results spoke for itself as a strong fire was made while Blimpo started cooking the crabs.

The aroma was certainly delightful for all of them; the prospect of a good dinner and a finer feast was an irreplaceable comfort in the depths of death as they say around the campfire, taking their helping of crab legs.

"Yum!"

Blimpo exerted in delight after trying a bite of the succulent meal, unable to contain himself as he slurped it up.

Splitting one of the cooked crab legs, Vandread sucked the tender meat out before chewing, "It's safe to say that this path we're on—to the supposed gateway out of the After—it's going to be full of obstacles."

"I was warned to avoid Primordials, but I have to wonder if these sorts of obstacles are their doing," Emilio said, taking a tired bite out of a crab leg.

"I'm not an expert on them or anything, but from what I do know, Primordials hardly interfere with mortal affairs directly. It's more likely they'll influence the environment around us in order to try and stop us from reaching the gateway," Vandread stuff.

Joel chewed slowly before gulping, looking towards the fire, "These "Primordials"…It's like the Nightmare, yeah?"

"Pretty much, except worse. It's frightening to think about, but the 'Unending Nightmare' was just one part of a Primordial," Emilio explained.

"Yeah, kind of regretting asking now," Joel said nervously.

Even under the gaze of the translucent trees in the softly, blue luminescent region, just speaking of Primordials felt like a topic worth only whispering about; the knowledge of their existence alone felt as though there were always eyes watching and ears listening.

"It's the same with the Dread. That monster was just a small part of a larger Primordial…and look where that got me and Emilio," Asher said, wiping his claymore down.

"How'd that go, anyway? The Dread was a sore topic around the Foundation," Vandreas asked, "It's hard to imagine it got taken out by a couple of bra–I mean, capable adventurers."

Emilio raised an eyebrow, "Really? Uncalled for. Anyway...It wasn't just Asher and myself–it was an all-out war against that thing. Fighting the Dread was like trying to combat a raging tornado with your bare hands."

"We tried stopping it from being unsealed, but failed. A single wave of its hand cast the entire valley into hell," Asher explained, "We're fortunate that our lives were enough to stop it."

"Yeah," Emilio nodded.

It was a subject he still hadn't fully grasped as he looked down at his own two hands; they had become calloused throughout his journey, at least, the one normal hand he had left. Thinking back to the battle against the Dread only made him realize just how real his death was.

"I still am wondering, Emilio…Just how did you defeat it? It was you that finished it off, right? Even if it was weakened, it was stronger than anything we could handle," Asher asked, looking across the campfire towards him.

Emilio scratched his neck, "It's…sorta hard to explain. It's something that came natural to me at that time. I allowed my flames to use my own body as fuel, and the result was snow-white fire that burned hot enough to turn anything to ash. It was power unlike anything I've felt; even the Dread couldn't keep up with me in that state."

"Woah. Wish I could've seen that," Joel remarked.

"Same here," Blimpo said before slurping up more crab meat.

Asher slid his cleaned claymore into the sheath on his back before taking a crab leg and indulging his appetite with it, "And that power cost your life?"

"Pretty much. I probably would have survived, but…Dread was pretty persistent," Emilio sighed.

"Don't overthink it. What you did was an invaluable service to Arcadius; lighten your heart with that fact," Asher assured him.

Such words felt bittersweet coming from the fellow reincarnator as he felt it was unfair that he had the opportunity to escape the After, but not the man who died only minutes prior to himself. Still, Asher seemed satisfied with his own decision, untouched by regret.

"Julius is never going to live any of this down, you know," Vandread remarked.

"Huh? Oh yeah, I was thinking about that before…How am I even going to begin to tell my family about what happened? 'Hey, I'm back, oh by the way, I died!'...Mother will freak out, and Julius will never stop boasting to the townsfolk, probably," Emilio said.

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Though it sounded as if he was lamenting the fact of having to tell his family, it was impossible for him not to smile when speaking of such things, noticed by the others.