Nameless King

"Why...?" Irma muttered in disbelief, "Haven't I gotten strong enough?"

Irma put all her strength into that punch, as well as what she had managed to learn from Osvald these past few days. Her technique was much better now than when she fought the Hunter, but still, Wain didn't even move.

"Of course, compared to when we first met, you're on a completely different level, but obviously, you still have a lot to achieve. Look." Wain pointed to Irma's fist.

Her fist was bleeding slightly and was covered in small scratches as if Irma had struck a steel beam, not a person.

"Now, do you see why it makes no sense for you to come with us? I'm sure there are some pretty strong men among the hunters, and to them, you're nothing more than a space." Wain said calmly.

Irma nodded and stepped aside.

"I'm sorry for acting overconfident. I actually was stupid." Irma bowed.

Wain nodded and walked away silently.

"Irma, it wasn't your fault." Osvald walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder, "You've done a great job and crossed the river, but you must cross the ocean to reach Wain's level."

'The ocean?! How stupid and presumptuous was I?'

Irma realized that she still had a lot of work to do. It was simple, but also very difficult.

...

Wain and Osvald left the village and headed north. The abandoned mines were located a few kilometers from the village, next to a rock.

"Don't you think you were too rough on her? That girl has been through many different things in the past few days, her fortitude deserves respect."

"You think so? She looks like an upstart to me, though she certainly has potential." Wain waved his hand and walked over to the tree.

An array of bright red fruit on the tree that looked like apples. Wain lightly tapped the tree, and it shook.

Bam. Bam. Bam.

Several fruits fell to the ground, two of which Wain caught.

"Here." Wain threw one to Osvald.

Wain took a bite of the fruit and wrinkled his nose.

"Huh, didn't you like it again? It's just fruit." Osvald tasted it and, a moment later, spit it out.

"Damn, why is it so bitter? How can you even eat that?"

"Well, at least it's unusual, okay, let's keep going, we're getting close." Wain looked ahead. A few hundred meters away, there was a cliff below which was the entrance to the mines.

Wain and Osvald quickly got there and went inside.

The mine was unremarkable, there had been worked done here a long time ago, and even some tools were left scattered on the ground.

"Maybe we should have gone into the jungle. How are we going to find the root here?" Wain muttered.

"No, we did it right. It's very easy to get lost in the jungle. We just have to concentrate." Osvald closed his eyes and his aura intensified.

Energy from his surroundings headed toward him and split into several thread-like streams. One of the streams was white, not blue, and was thicker than the others.

"That's where we are. It's definitely the energy of Soul Pearl, I wouldn't mistake it for anything."

Wain nodded.

They followed the stream, and after a few forks, they reached the root. It was almost completely drained, and only a fraction of the original energy remained.

"Osvald, the Queen became so strong because she accidentally found the root and the same thing that lizard did, right?"

"Yes, but the lizard was just around for a while or chewed some off. Most of the energy went to the Queen, though it doesn't make sense now. That's where we're going." Osvald pointed to a long tunnel with no end in sight. There was a root coming from there, and the area's core was.

"Okay."

...

Wain and Osvald walked forward for a long time, the tunnel was dark, and only the white sphere created by Osvald illuminated it.

"Osvald, we are about to end up near the Hunter base. What will we do if they attack us?"

"That's obvious. We'll kill them, absorb the pearls, and finally get out of here."

"Glad to hear it." Wain nodded.

Wain's opinion of Osvald had changed slightly lately. He hadn't expected that Osvald was actually quite a kind man and was always willing to help, but Wain wasn't wrong about Osvald being a warrior first and foremost.

Whooooooosh.

Suddenly there was a ripple through the root, and the root began to tremble.

"What's going on?" Wain was surprised and moved away from the root.

"I don't know..."

Whooooosh.

Once again, there was a pulse, and many white little roots began to grow out of the root. They slowly advanced and then headed toward Wain at the same time.

Bam.

Hundreds of roots stabbed into the wall like spears, a few centimeters from Wain. He ducked at the last moment, stepping to the side.

"What the fuck is that? And the worst part is that I don't know what to do. Should we run or fight?"

"Wain, it looks like either the core or the Hunters are trying to replenish this root with energy again, and it's looking for a new target. The Queen was strong, so she was able to integrate with the root."

"So this root is like a parasite looking for a strong host?"

"Yes, and as you understand, we are the only targets here, but that's no problem." Osvald uttered, and his fist was covered in white energy.

Roots headed for Osvald, but he punched his fist and created an energy blast. It engulfed everything around it, and Wain even had to defend himself from the shockwave. The energy destroyed the root, tore it apart, and then burned it without a trace.

"Looks like we got here just in time. The hunters are on the move, they're trying to find a new power source, but we've again thwarted them."

"I didn't know Soul Pearls could be dangerous, but maybe it's for the best." Wain shook off the dust and ran forward.