Divine Beast Ascension

Chapter 521: The Beacon

With two lizards on Freele, one lizard on Trenk, two lizards flanking Fulkar, and the biggest lizard facing Yeter, the small cave was packed to the brim.

Khizz!

The lead lizard leered at Yeter while crying out loudly. The party couldn’t understand what it was trying to say, but they knew it was some kind of order since the other lizards quickly changed their battle strategy.

Speeding around in every which way, the lizards focused on evasion rather than attacking all-out. In such a small, cramped space, their greater mobility allowed them to use the walls and ceiling to their advantage. The lizards evaded threatening attacks while trying to create openings to strike. Only the lead lizard kept acting aggressively, making sure Yeter wouldn’t be able to go after its underlings.

Amidst the scrambling chaos, Fulkar shouted, “Protect the fire!”

“I’m on it!” Trenk backed up in order to stand at the edge of the campfire. With his flaming sword, he guaranteed that some kind of light would always be present to keep up the party’s visibility.

At the same time, light essence gathered around Freele’s armlet. She softly shouted, “Close your eyes!”

.....

The next moment, a blinding light flashed through the small cave.

KHIIZZZ!! Khiz! Khiz!

The lizards whined as the dim cave suddenly got brighter than the noonday sun. It was only for a split second but that made it all the more jarring to the nocturnal lizards.

“My turn!” Yeter laughed as he barreled into the flinching lead lizard. It rushed to create a layer of ice armor around it, but Yeter crashed through it and slammed the two-krin lizard into the cave wall. His hooves worked like chisels, splitting the icy essence armor and the stone floor with each step. “Die, cold-blooded bastard!”

KHIIIZzzzz...

The lead lizard whined and cried with its final breath. But it was too late to save its underlings. They were already being hewn down by the others.

Khiz! Khiz. Khizz...

With a few lizards taken out immediately after the flash, the party was able to regroup and bring down the remaining few lizards without much trouble. And Yeter guarded the narrow entrance to keep any lizards from attempting to flee.

Only fifteen minutes later and someone else approached the cave. But they were calm and collected, knowing exactly where it was along the mountainside.

“I’m back... Did I miss the fun?” Oli asked after spotting the pile of lizard corpses along the side wall. “Looks like I didn’t need to go hunting after all. Oh well. More food for later.”

He retrieved a huge caribou carcass with white fur and blue antlers. Everyone eyed it eagerly. Yeter even licked his lips.

Oli stacked it with the other corpses, using the cold wall to keep the meat fresh for as long as possible. “What attracted the lizards?”

Fulkar answered, while rotating his hunk of lizard tail on a stick, “We think it was the fire.”

“The fire? So, they’re nocturnal lizards that live in cold. And their feet probably let them run without sinking into the snow... Interesting,” Oli scanned the corpses.

Yeter proudly chomped away at his own meal taken from the boss lizard’s corpse. “I took down the leader! It didn’t stand a chance!”

“Freele was a huge help,” Fulkar added. “She blinded them and made it easy for us all.”

Smiling, Oli bowed his head to Freele. “Nicely done! Great use of the limited space.”

“Thanks,” Freele happily accepted the compliment while eating some roasted lizard.

There were no more attacks that night, so the party managed to get some good rest despite taking shifts for the night watch. The next day they got back to acclimating after cooking some breakfast and killing the fire.

Occasionally, Oli would step outside to remember their surroundings while also trying to come up with the answer to a vexing question.

“Got any idea on how to find the shrine?”

Oli looked back and spotted Fulkar coming outside for a breather. “No. I’ve still got nothing. But it doesn’t make sense. They wouldn’t just send us out if there was no way to determine where to go.”

“I agree, but I’ve got no clue what to do,” Fulkar remarked. “We’ve still got one more day of acclimating, so don’t get too anxious just yet. Ok?”

Fulkar patted Oli on the back and stepped inside. Taking a deep breath of cold air, Oli cooled down his racing mind. Then, he sat down outside the cave to start cultivating. Since he was already accustomed to the temperature of the cave, Oli decided to start acclimating to the reduced wind between the trees. And Oli was hoping to also try cultivating beyond the trees the next day.

That night, there was no lizard attack or anything else. Everything went by smoothly as they made a lizard stew from a few herbs nearby and melted snow for as much water as they needed.

The following morning, Oli tried cultivating in the brunt of the pelting wind and snow. But he only stayed there for half an hour before coming back into the cave to warm up. Oli worked in a cycle. He spent half an hour in the unadulterated weather and then spent more than an hour warming up inside the cave. By nightfall, Oli had barely gotten any actual cultivation done.

... Thrummm...

Without warning, the entire party heard a low humming sound from outside the cave. They were in the middle of making more lizard stew when it happened. But since it didn’t sound like any kind of animal they were familiar with, Oli and Yeter rushed outside to get a good look.

“What’s that?!” Yeter yelled.

Oli, on the other hand, felt a rush of calmness overtake the growing anxiety in his heart. He relaxed and let out a long sigh, “That’s how we find the shrine. What else could it be?”

Hearing Oli and Yeter, the rest of the party stepped outside as well. They instantly spotted the change in scenery and felt a rush of excitement with Oli’s statement in mind.

“Is that some kind of beacon, you think?” Fulkar commented, getting nods from most of the party.

“With that, finding the shrine is no trouble at all. It’s just a matter of surviving and completing the journey,” Oli remarked, feeling far more confident about the team’s chances of success.

Overtaking the treetops, there was a column of faint glowing light standing proud in the middle of the turbulent snowstorm. It was changing from blue to purple, back and forth. It was still difficult to determine how far away it was given the blizzard. But that light never faded or weakened no matter how hard the storm tried to extinguish it.

With a goal in sight, Oli turned to the party. “Tomorrow, we head out. Our aim is that light, but we won’t rush unless absolutely necessary. We still need to get used to traveling in the blizzard.”

“Yes, sir!” Yeter boldly shouted, agreeing without hesitation.

“Yes, sir!” the others followed the stallion’s example and addressed Oli with the respect of a team captain.

They all shuffled back into the cave to enjoy their meal. And it wasn’t just Oli, but everything that savored the relief of having a visible goal. It was all the team talked about, that and how Yeter would confidently challenge anyone that dared confront the team.

When it came time to sleep, all was peaceful. They cycled through the night watch while everyone calmly slept.

However, Oli suddenly felt differently during his watch in the middle of the night. He was far more alert than he had been during the previous nights. He wasn’t sure why, but Oli had a sinking feeling whenever he thought about how easily the last two days had passed. Add the appearance of that beacon and Oli was certain some beasts should’ve acted out by then.

Oli passed his senses through the ground to feel the team’s surroundings. But it was nowhere near as effective as Oli had wanted. With so much snow and wind outside, it was hard to determine what might be a beast moving in the snow and what was just a plant swaying or falling in the wind.

In the end, it was up to Oli to determine what the team would do.

He started replaying snippets of memories in his mind, searching for any advice he could put together.

Vloz’s words were, “... When hunting, also trust the tracks. If you have no tracks, then trust your instincts...”

Rathe’s words were frank and to the point. “... Follow your gut and you can’t go wrong! ...”

But it was a memory from his father that finally resonated with Oli. After two years of rewatching his dad’s memories, it was impossible for Oli to forget some of Dioro’s experiences leading the gorilla troop.

“When all else fails, we have two things to rely on. We have experience. And we have instincts. But we forget that over time our experiences shape our instincts.”