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Chapter 191: Hail Before Storm (7)

At the cliffs buried under heavy snow, the group slowly made their way up on the hills as they paved their path forward to the caverns. While they were doing so, the blizzards within the area grew strong as time passes by.

"B-Brr... After this... We'll be going back to a warm place, right?" Frey muttered out whilst shivering. Even with the added layers of clothes provided by Crowelin and Hikari, it wasn't enough to shield them from the drop of temperature. "It's getting unbearable..."

"The cavern is just up ahead," Shinto stated. "So we can have Raina open up a small campfire to stay warm before we set foot back into the catacombs."

"Right," Raina nodded her head. "But, I don't think my spells are that powerful enough to keep everyone warm enough..." They had stayed outdoors for quite some time now. Thus, with the rising stacks of environmental debuffs the group had been receiving, it'd take a while to fully recover from it.

"Having something warm is better than none," Ethaniel scoffed as he stepped foot into the caverns. In the next moment, he placed down the few logs that he had collected earlier on the ground. "Now hurry! Start the fire, please. I don't want to feel cold any more than I have to."

"...a cavern," Crowelin uttered out in thought. "Wait... Wait... WAIT! Could this be?!"

"Crowelin, calm down," Hikari coughed. "Just because this is a cavern doesn't necessarily mean we'd find the village... I mean, Za Shinto did say that this leads to some catacomb, right?" Her voice now ushered quietly within Crowelin's ears.

"Still... They mentioned something about, 'Den', right?" Crowelin whispered to Hikari. "Maybe we'll complete the quest after all!"

"Maybe... But let's just leave that aside first," Hikari's head turned to Shinto who had made his way over towards the wall by the other side of them, seemingly deep in thought. "For now... The priority now would be to hear an explanation from him. Though... The opportunity might be later."

"Hah..." Crowelin frowned. "This wait is just too long! I want to know now! The hell happened to him? He's a mage now? Wait... His skills are more like yours, Hikari. So, did he changed to a priest class? That's just..."

"I don't think it's a priest class?" Hikari tilted her head in the thought of a past conversation with Shinto whilst scrutinizing him from afar. "From the looks of things, ignoring his very unsettling get-up, I think he might have a hidden class."

"A hidden class?!" Crowelin uttered out. "All the known hidden ones are pretty shit if you ask me... There are only a handful of rares and those three epic classes which are good. So, if he were to switch from Lunar Swordsman to an Epic or Unique... It must be pretty good?"

"Most likely. He wouldn't change to some beast tamer level class or a class far below that of his current since that's just not worth it,"  Hikari nodded her head. "But let's leave the wondering to that point. I trust him. So I expect that he'll answer our questions fully when we get the opportunity to. For now, c-can we move over to the campfire? I'm really cold..."

"Seriously? You got extra layers of clothing!" Crowelin glared at Hikari. "And you're still cold?"

"Ahaha... You know me," Hikari awkwardly laughed. "I have my extra set to Frey. So... I'm not wearing double clothing..."

"I still don't get how you're that cold," Crowelin shrugged. "But never mind. Let's head closer to the campfire. With all initial crisis over, I want to see how Shinto's apparent newfound group is like."

"Make sure not to blurt out that you know him," Hikari reminded.

"You almost shouted out his real name, Hikari..." Crowelin sighed.

"U-Um... Let's ignore that shall we!" Hikari coughed. "Come, come! To the campfire, we go!"

"...hah," Crowelin shook her head helplessly as she walked over towards the rest of the group.

...

By the distance of the two girls as well as the group by the campfire, Shinto stared at the fire whilst in deep thought. "...hmm, still no notifications or messages from the Beings of Divinity. It's weird... The oncoming disaster here should put an alarm on them, right?"

From when he first saw the cocoon to now, the side of Divinity has been especially quiet. Perhaps so as they have seen the current prowess of the Shadow Diviner, they have decided to no longer give him any tasks in relation to such things.

However, it was weird by the process. Even if they were quiet about Bareth, Shinto had faced against enough beings that should be judged under the verdict of [Evil] or even [Great Evil], especially with his recent battle with the manVincent.

"...are they really that angry at me to lose all fate in me?" Shinto blinked at the thought. "...it's not even my fault they gave unreasonable tasks. But them not giving unreasonable tasks at the same time is worry some..."

Thinking back on when he had received the notification in regards to Bareth's awakening, that would've been the perfect time to have heard something from the Divinity side.

...

[ Bareth, The Air of Eternal Winter has awakened! ]

[ Eternal winter will once again continue on within the plains of Fal. ]

[ For those who have lived within the lands of Fal, the mark 'Barethin' will appear. ]

[ Those inflicted by the mark will slowly crumble down into ice upon making contact with Bareth. ]

[ The beast is in his weakened state! The 'Barethin' mark will appear only after a month. ]

"...eep!" Frey cried out. "T-The beast awakened! Is this the end of this place?! The mages didn't defeat him in time!"

"Please calm down," Blake calmly stated. "There's enough time for those sages. He is only in his weakened state after all. Within that time frame, they can curve the threat down to a minimum and keep his area of control only to here."

"O-Oh... That's possible for them?" Raina tilted her head. "Earlier you said that without the Ice Queen's Blade or the vessel, Rustly at hand, they can only keep him at bay?"

"Keeping him at bay may mean many things. However, the only options unavailable for them is the defeat of the beast as well as the resealing of him," he stated. "But in any case. What we need to do now is to leave here as soon as possible, or to at least get to a safer place, perhaps indoors."

"We're near the caverns now, let's hurry along," Shinto nodded his head as he gestured over to the group to continue moving forward.

...

"..." Still deep in thought whilst recalling, Shinto soon heard a voice from the distance.

"Master, is something the matter?" A male's voice protruded out.

"...?" Hearing the voice, Shinto turned towards the direction of it as he noted that it was Blake. "Ah. Blake... You're still here?"

"Yes," he nodded his head. "I've still got about thirty minutes left? I'm not too sure. I've decided to stick around till the time limit."

"Right..." Shinto nodded his head as he uttered out in a sigh. "Hey, Blake. You mind if I ask you something?"

"Of course, please go on ahead," he gestured over to Shinto. "If it helps to put your mind at ease, then I'll happily help."

"Hah..." Shinto took a deep breath as he firmly glanced at the man in front of him. "Although I've asked this a few times already... But I'd like to hear it from you as well. Just... What are Shadow and Divinity all about? The goals of each side I mean."

He had asked the question to Kon and he had asked this to Kiara. Both answered extremely differently but had given him somewhat enough information to understand the bare minimum of what the beings are. Though, besides the Divinity side which is still up in the air.

Thus, now, he asked the question to Blake in the alliteration of their goals. He had initially thought he had understood the two sides, one being to serve justice while the other was to seemingly rid away evil. The twos appeared to be that of the same coin.

However, after the events of the cocoon, he had been left wondering. Just exactly what 'justice' was? In his eyes, the crisis at the front of him would have been enough to gain a response from Divinity, yet there wasn't a single drop of messages.

"...the goals of each side?" Blake tilted his head. "Hmm... That's an interesting question. I'm assuming you're now questioning this because of the lack of interaction with the Divinity?"

On the other hand, when it came to Shadow, Blake seemingly knew about everything in regards to Fal's way of sealing off Bareth and the ways of the beast. For a shadow minion to know about such things, meant that the Shadow Diviner was once involved in the events. 

"...yes. I'm questioning it because of this," Shinto nodded his head. "So... Would you please tell me all you know?"