An Owl's Rise

Krunnen continued to try and dissuade Evelyn from seeking a grand fire elemental, but she had no intention of giving up on her quest without at least seeing what her target was capable of for herself.

"I appreciate your concern; however, I need a grand fire elemental's heart in order to evolve. Not seeking it would mean giving up on going any higher than where I am currently at. To achieve my goals, I need more power than I already have. If I happen to die along the way, then that will be that. I've no intention of stopping now."

From the look in Evelyn's eyes Krunnen could tell that she was not going to back down no matter what he said. He could see that there was a resolution and a deep rage that was pushing her forward and would not be stopped.

"Also, I expect you to keep up your end of the deal even if you have misgivings about it. It's my choice to put my life on the line. I won't allow you to back out now." Evelyn said, releasing a bit of hostility.

Now that she and Krunnen had come to an agreement, Evelyn was going to make sure he followed through. She was letting him know, that if he broke their deal, she would kill him. 

In response, Krunnen gulped loudly and vigorously nodded his head. He had given her a warning, but if she wanted to get herself killed, they weren't close enough for him to try and stop her. Especially if she was going to kill him if he did not stick to their agreement.

After reaffirming their deal, Evelyn and Krunnen continued traversing the area in search of fire elementals to exterminate.

They did not run into any other higher-ranking elementals like the duplicator and only encountered two more lesser fire elementals that were easily dealt with.

"We have been at this for nearly nineteen hours now. Why don't we take a rest here?" Krunnen said.

At this point the two of them had covered a great deal of ground and thanks to Evelyn, Krunnen was farther along his route than he would have traveled on his own.

"Sure. I suppose this is as good a place as anywhere." Evelyn responded, looking around at the landscape that barely changed for as far as the eye could see. It really did not matter where they stopped since almost everything was covered by the same orange colored grass.

Evelyn offered to take first watch on account of Krunnen having been active longer than her. He had actually already been up for over a day when they first encountered each other.

Unfortunately, the only place Evelyn could find some high ground with a decent vantage point was atop Keunen's shell. As much as she did not want to leave herself open, she figured she could respond in time even if he did try to launch an attack on her.

'It's been a while since I have kept watch like this. In the Verdant Warlord's Domain, I normally just slept in one of the safe zones.' Evelyn thought, remembering what she had been doing over the last twenty-one months.

For the most part she had simply stayed in the Verdant warlord's Domain and collected valuable resources while occasionally leaving in order to use the magic spring in the burrowing owl's home.

This was also the first time in quite awhile that she was teaming up with anyone. As Lucia had suggested, Evelyn and her companions had been operating alone. They had met on occasion to exchange information and update each other on their progress, but that was it.

'My mindset is still stuck thinking that I am going solo. I should not have gone off without Krunnen during the battle against the duplicator. If he had died because I was focused on my own battle, I would have lost my source of information.' 

While Evelyn ruminated on her mistakes, she swiveled her head back and forth to keep watch on the surrounding area.

Thanks to her neck's ability to turn two hundred seventy degrees she was able to keep watch without moving anything but her head.

For several hours everything was peaceful, but with her keen vison, Evelyn eventually spotted a slight movement in the grass around a hundred meters away.

She was certain that this was not the wind or some other natural movement, but a creature of some kind trying to sneak up on them.

What surprised Evelyn though, was how close it had gotten before she noticed it. If not for her catching the slightest unnatural swaying in the grass, she never would have known anything was closing in on them.

The problem was that after the disturbance in the grass she saw no other signs of whatever was nearing her and Krunnen. 

'Whatever it this thing is, it must be incredibly small and stealthy.' Evelyn thought, sharpening all of her senses to their max.

At the same time, she connected a thin strand of magical energy to Krunnen as a signal that danger was nearby.

Immediately he woke up and his head shot out of his shell.

"What is going on? I don't see anything." Krunnen said, looking around for thee threat Evelyn had alerted him to.

"I don't know what it is. I barely noticed its presence because of how small it is. But it is close. We should launch and omni directional attack to flush it out."

Krunnen agreed and raised his two front legs and charged up with magical energy to do as Evelyn suggested.

While he did that Evelyn took to the air and kept a lookout from above. She would make sure to use her keen vision and hearing to locate the creature trying to get the drop on them once Krunnen had made his move.

Yet just before he slammed his legs down and used his magic to create a wave of earth in all directions, their stealthy enemy made its move.