Principled Jewellery

The dry tree bark burned, falling on the ground after breaking off, spreading the heat to the dry leaves that filled the topsoil. The dry leaves spread the fire to the adjacent trees, the wind carrying the burning soot towards other regions. The closeness of the trees became their doom, quickly spreading the flames, increasing their temperatures and rate of expansion. Though, this gave the children enough time to escape from their close pursuit.

The forest fire spread around, forming a ring of fire that blocked the Spear-Tailed Goats. The Spear-Tailed Goats that entered the ring of fire despite the obvious signs of danger died a pitiful death, their fur catching on fire, spreading to fellow goats in their hurry to douse the flames.

Henwill materialised a sparrow and sent it flying towards Sarah and group. He made everyone huddle within a group of trees—in a place where the foliage covered their presence—to rest.

"Hedroll, guard everyone for a Chant; I'll be back in a jiffy." Henwill sprinted towards a direction where the trees converged next to one another, making it difficult for even someone of his stature to move around. He still had plenty of stamina, thanks to his rigorous training since childhood, so he thought to meet the other group before they endanger themselves.

Passing through a thicket of trees, using his sparrow to keep watch, Henwill tracked the group of three. The sparrow suddenly lost sight of the three when it passed through a thick foliage; a moment later, it located the group again, just that there were only two at present.

Henwill suddenly stopped running. He closed his eyes as he went through the vision his sparrow had relayed to him. Backtracking through the images, he noticed a faint colour change within the thicket of trees before the group of three became two.

Thinking of the possible routes between him and their location that facilitated fast movement; Henwill narrowed down his options, finally picking a route, spotting the figure of a girl running in his direction. The moment the girl noticed him, she sped on the ground, racing towards him.

"Wait, I mean no harm. I came with…" The girl showed no signs of waiting for him to talk, lunging at him, arms raised, covering the sides of her face. Using her momentum, the girl aimed a kick at his face. Henwill bent backward, planting his feet wide enough to facilitate his action, looking at a pair of legs pass above his face.

Gripping a vine coiled around a branch, the girl pulled it, rolling on the ground the moment she landed. The vine coiled around her body during her roll. The girl stood up, ignoring the shouts of Henwill and raced towards him. She performed another kick, linking it with a roundhouse kick.

Henwill swerved to the side, dodging her first kick. He then crouched to avoid her second kick, scooping out a handful of dirt and dried leaves, throwing it at the girl. Her vision blocked, the girl aimed a low kick, trying to hit the spot Henwill stood at. Henwill jumped up, avoiding her sweep and caught hold of her.

Using the momentum of his jump, he destroyed her balance, making the two fall down. Though, not wanting to harm the person he wanted to recruit into his group, Henwill turned his body, taking the brunt of the impact when they fell on the ground, his body cushioning her.

Seeing the girl aim a punch at his chest, Henwill controlled a groan from leaking out of his mouth, quickly making use of the free ends of the vine coiled around her body to tie her hand. Just when she was about to slip from the hold, a sparrow flew and landed on her shoulder, emitting faint sparks.

Followed by a shriek, the girl fell unconscious. Henwill caught the girl, taking the opportunity to look at her closely. He noticed that the girl hadn't suffered from any injuries, giving him a sense of relief. Followed by the rustling sounds, two figures emerged out, charging towards him.

One of them lifted her hand, emitting a blinding flash that blinded his eyes. Sensations of heat, as if they were snakes crawled their way all across his skin, starting from his legs, slithering towards his head. The heat made him flustered, while the lack of eyesight gave him a sense of fear when a pair of fists hit his face. Using the chance, Pinta dragged the unconscious Sarah away while Cailey delivered a flurry of kicks to Henwill.

Settling her to the side, Pinta was just about to enter the fight when a red sparrow appeared, prompting Cailey to hurriedly back away. The red sparrow chirped in anger, before a figure similar to Henwill appeared, hurriedly propping him up.

"You bastards, I'll kill you." In response to his emotions, the red sparrow chirped in anger, intending to blast the three to death. A blue sparrow hurriedly stopped its charge when Henwill held his hands. Blinking a couple of times to slowly regain sight in his eyes, Henwill massaged his brows. He stood up, holding back the faint trace of anger in his eyes as he looked at the trio of girls before him.

"Let me talk Hedroll." Henwill looked at the glaring Cailey, "I think you girls misunderstood my intentions…"

"Misunderstand my ass! You were clearly following us, trying to make us the scapegoats to save your skins." Pinta retorted. She secretly swallowed an Energy Berry and inspected Sarah's wounds, sighing in relief when they were nothing serious.

"There's a crisis," Henwill said, with no intention to drag the conversation, "The dungeon boss has broken free. Hundreds of participants have already died. We are one of the remaining survivors."

The rustling of trees followed by faint mumbles, a group of injured people came into view. Their injuries varied from faint gnashes to bone-deep cuts. Some still bled, having had to run with no time to stop the bleeding.

"It is impossible for the dungeon boss to break free…" Cailey said when a horn fell before her feet. The horn looked twice as tall as the horn of a Spear-Tailed Goat, but its composition differed. Its hardness, toughness, and lastly, the overwhelming aura radiating out of it meant otherwise.

"This…impossible!" Cailey shook her head, refusing to believe the fact presented before her eyes. Just based on her instincts, and the knowledge she had, she could easily conclude that the horn before her didn't belong to a simple Spear-Tailed Goat.

"Among the participants, some of the bastards from the Temple of the Morbid Reincarnator had appeared. One of them had reincarnated into the dungeon boss, controlling all the Spear-Tailed Goats to launch an attack against us." Hedroll said, gritting his teeth in anger. One of his family members had died in that battle.

"This horn of the dungeon boss was severed by a Toenil, with his life as the price," Henwill said. "That is why, in order to survive this dungeon, we have to work together. We no longer have to care about the test, surviving is our priority."

"If, like what you said, someone turned into the dungeon boss; why have you guys run to the forest but haven't tried to escape through the dungeon gate?" Sarah, holding her numb shoulder, said. Her shoulder ached, due to the fight she had with Henwill and also due to having experienced that electric shock.

Suddenly, energy erupted around Pinta, rushing towards the skies. In sequence to her incantation, it converged to a spot above the thick foliage, forming into an eye. The eye looked towards the direction of the Rat Head, the iris in it enlarging to zoom further. It then made a cursory sweep across the meadow, focusing at a certain spot for a Tick longer before dissolving into energy.

"What he said is the truth," Pinta confirmed. Only then did the wariness in the eyes of Cailey and Sarah disappear.

Pinta then looked at Henwill, noticing his astonishment, "I noticed a group of people huddled above the Rat Head. They have been surrounded by Spear-Tailed Goats. Moreover, a creature that looks like the dungeon boss is headed towards their location. It is a bipedal creature. What happened to the dungeon gate?"

"It has been blocked, preventing both entry and exit. We only have two ways to survive; first, we kill the dungeon boss, thereby clearing the dungeon. It will open the gates for sure since it has been dictated as such by the Dungeon Lord. Second, we wait it out for someone to break the dungeon wall from the outside. Though, the likelihood of it happening is slim. It would take at least a day before the Hunter Guild notices something amiss. Moreover, there is a high chance for the dungeon breaking down with the destruction of the wall, killing us in the process." Henwill said.

…

A group of 20 people in total stood near the edge of the forest, with the meadow in their sight. Henwill materialised his blue sparrow while Hedroll materialised his red sparrow. The red sparrow used its claws to grab hold of a hip bag Cailey handed over and flew, the blue sparrow flying beside it for protection.

The two sparrows increased their altitude, almost flying towards the ceiling of the dungeon. Using the sparse clouds there for cover, the two sparrows flew towards the Rat Head.

…

Above the Rat Head, a boy gazed at the sky with a dazed expression. He had already given up on life; they were devoid of energy to activate their skills and were surrounded by Spear-Tailed Goats that numbered in the hundreds. He previously hoped the people who rushed towards the forest would be able to turn the situation around by miraculously defeating the dungeon boss, but after seeing the entire forest blaze like a bonfire, he had lost hope in them.

Two dots, one red, one blue suddenly appeared above him. As time passed, they grew bigger and clearer to his sight.

'The sparrows of the Stormhose family!' The boy's eyes lit up with hope as he silently whispered to the others. Without acting any differently, they silently received the bag dropped by the red sparrow.

The boy who noticed them first took charge to open it, revealing a bunch of Energy Berries and a small leaf stuffed between them. Lifting it up, the boy read the sentence written on it. It looked to have been written by adding heat to a pointed tip.

"There are 60 Energy Berries in total. Eat one, save the other; when the dungeon boss nears the Rat Head, we retaliate."