“Perhaps,” she answered. “Or maybe you will fill another role? Who’s to know?”
I shrugged. “I don’t care either way. I just want to get stronger.”
I traveled down the first few tunnels and didn’t encounter any monsters. Without a lure, they weren’t drawn to me, but Nydarth was focused on reaching the Fire Core, so I hurried along without worrying about killing beasts and collecting their cores. I still needed a few daji and hellhound cores to complete their respective techniques, so I hoped I would stumble upon a few of those stronger monsters. I didn’t have Kegohr and Vesma with me this time, but I was carrying the Sundered Heart. I’d grown in power over the past few weeks, and this would provide an excellent testing ground for my skill level.
A perfect chance arrived when half a dozen ember sprites leaped out of recesses in the walls surrounding me. They were larger than the ones I’d encountered before. The first two latched onto my sword arm and weighed it down so heavily that I couldn’t swing the blade. The others attacked me with fists and feet as I staggered back against the wall, burdened by the weight of the sprites. Fortunately, my left arm was still free. I brought my hand around and hit one of the sprites with Stinging Palm at point blank range. I’d increased the strength of my thorns, and this time, they didn’t burn away but punctured the sprite’s skull. The dead creature released my arm and fell to the ground.
Now that I could move my right arm again, instead of attacking with my sword, I swung back against the wall and smashed the other clinging sprite against the stone. When it still held fast, I punched it with my off-hand and crushed its ashen head against the wall before a precise chop with my sword finished it off.
I brought the Sundered Heart Sword around in a scything arc. The blade sliced through the nearest two sprites like a hot knife through butter. One still clung to my leg as it punched at my thigh with a fiery fist. I raised the sword, then plunged it into the creature’s shoulder. The blade drove down through the body and cut it almost in half.
The last sprite looked at me, looked at its fallen comrades, then turned and ran.
“Absorb the cores,” Nydarth said. “Wielding my sword will allow you to consume them without succumbing to Augmentor’s Sickness.”
I did as Nydarth commanded, and I felt no crushing exhaustion. The power of the cores filtered through my body, and the usual fatigue vanished as I gripped the sword.
Left alone in the tunnel, I took a moment to rest and apply a poultice to my thigh. I knew this would be a tough series of fights, especially now that I was on my own, so I’d come with more medicine and water. I missed the company, but Nydarth had been clear in her instructions—if she was going to teach me, then we needed to travel alone.
“Those sprites seemed tougher than last time,” I said as I set off again down the tunnels.
“The Fire Core has grown more powerful since you were last here,” Nydarth said. “It has had time to recover from the damage you did and to learn from it. Fortunate, then, that you have learned even more.”
A growling emerged from the tunnel up ahead and echoed off the rock walls. I drew my sword as I rounded a corner and saw a hellhound standing in front of me. Its body almost filled the tunnel, and its deadly teeth were bared as it stared at me with a raging hate. As it bounded toward me, I summoned a Plank Pillar to block the creature’s path.
Rather than wait for it to roar and produce a fiery whirlwind, I skirted around the wooden wall and slashed at the giant canine’s neck. The Sundered Heart penetrated its tough hide and sliced clean through. The hellhound’s massive head crashed to the ground a second before its body. The magical sword was far more powerful than the one Tolin had given me, and it seemed to slice a hellhound’s hide with remarkable ease. Lava-like blood gushed from the corpse’s fatal wound and leaked onto the ground, and I quickly cut out the core before I absorbed it. As the blood-lava continued to flow, I created little wooden stepping stones and skipped to the other side of the tunnel.
There were more encounters like it as I made my way down through the tunnels toward the Fire Core. Scorched salamanders slithered out of their lava pools and dajis danced through the caverns. Every time, I managed to beat them, whether through Augmenting, fighting, or some other trick. The Ember Cavern seemed like child’s play compared to the first time I’d ventured inside. Even though the monsters were twice as strong, I had improved my abilities tenfold.
On Nydarth’s instructions, I absorbed the beast cores rather than carry them with me. As she had promised, I didn’t feel at all drained when the monsters’ energies joined with my own.
At last, we reached the final chamber in the heart of the mountain. Just like before, I found myself facing a pair of hellhounds. Last time, it had taken three of us to beat a pair of them. But I was stronger than before. My Vigor pathways had increased in power, and I knew exactly how to defeat their attacks.
“This is what you were born for,” Nydarth said. “Just follow the strength within you.”
I advanced, the Sundered Heart Sword raised in front of me. The hounds growled, paced away from each other, and circled around to come at me from both sides.
“Worlds touch,” Nydarth continued. “Veils part. The void connects all. Now, it’s time for you to fight.”
Her talk of the void took me back to our training session in the dojo. I remembered what it had felt like
