Divided

Kaito, yet again, wakes up in an unfamiliar place, but this time, he could tell he wasn’t in the Realm Between Worlds. The surrounding area was abundant in lush greenery—arbor walls, moss, and other natural foliage like mushrooms and vines. It seemed like Kaito was in some sort of dungeon.

As Kaito looked around, he came face-to-face with a sprout-looking monster, but it was timid and ran away from Kaito.

Fully standing up, Kaito concluded, “At least this place doesn’t seem too dangerous.”

Just as Kaito reached this conclusion, a stalactite fell from the ceiling into the green liquid near Kaito. The liquid splashed near Kaito and started to dissolve the ground. It was clearly some form of acid.

“I stand corrected,” Kaito thought to himself in shock.

Kaito soon realized he was all alone in the supposed dungeon. He didn’t even know if he was the only one in this place. Although he was concerned about his situation, Kaito pressed on.

As Kaito explored the area, metal clashing could be heard. It seems like someone was battling in the area. Kaito, hoping to meet up with one of his friends, approached the sound of battle.

At the location of the noise, Khrom was fighting a swarm of large bugs alone.

“Khrom!” Kaito yelled out as he ran to aid in the fight.

“Kaito!” Khrom responded. “Good timing, I could use a bit of backup.”

Khrom explained the situation. He has been fighting the swarm of bugs for a while, but their numbers didn’t seem to be dwindling. Something was likely summoning the bugs, but Khrom had no free time to search for it.

“You think you can handle the swarm for a bit longer?” Kaito asked, alluding that he had some plan.

“Do what you need to do. I can handle a few bugs,” Khrom answered confidently.

Kaito then used his Phase skill to reach a safe point to view the whole swarm. He waited patiently until Khrom killed another one of the bugs. Upon a bug dying, a large flower resembling the monster flower, Rafflesia Arnoldii, appeared in Khrom’s blind spot to summon another bug. Kaito had found the summoner; now he needed to weed it out.

Kaito knew he had to be careful, as the bugs could get in the way of his attack on the flower. It was time for Kaito to utilize a new skill Rina taught him for his bow. He was taught the Pierce skill, the same skill Rina used to defeat the cyclops bear in the Giora Ruins. The full extent of the skill allows the user’s attack to pierce through objects. With this skill, Kaito could pierce through any bugs blocking the arrow’s trajectory.

As Khrom defeated another bug, Kaito readied his bow. Kaito released the arrow as the flower appeared, activating the Pierce skill. The arrow flew, piercing a bug on the way to the flower as it stuck its target.

“Nice! My bow training on our journey here is paying off.” Kaito thought, realizing his accuracy had improved.

The flower made a squealing sound, which prompted the swarm of bugs to disperse. In pain, the flower sprouted out of the ground, fully apparent to Kaito and Khrom.

“So you finally show yourself!” Khrom announced, ready to face the flower enemy.

In the flower’s rage, it started shooting out bugs as projectiles. They moved at such a speed that it caused the bugs to die upon impact. Khrom and Kaito were unaffected, as they hid behind Khrom’s shield.

Acknowledging the bug’s ineffectiveness, the flower summoner used a different attack, spewing the same green liquid Kaito witnessed before.

“Dodge that!” Kaito notified Khrom. “That’s some type of acid!”

Khrom, adhering to Kaito’s warning, did not take the attack with his shield and dodged. Khrom observed the acid spit dissolve the ground and got an idea. He then switched his shield to the same hollow shield Kaito accidentally took in the tournament.

“Kaito! I’ll give you an opening!” Khrom proclaimed.

Kaito went on standby, as Khrom took the frontline, drawing the flower’s attention with his Aggrovate skill. A skill that attracts the attention of all nearby enemies.

The flower summoner, falling for Khrom’s taunt, started regurgitating for another acid spit. As the acid was launched at Khrom, he took a defensive stance behind his shield and activated it.

As the flower’s spit struck Khrom’s shield, the acid started to ball up in the hollow part of the shield. Khrom, using the shield’s power, then launched the acid back at the flower’s head.

The flower was resistant to the acid, as it didn’t die immediately, but it was clearly in pain as it screeched and wailed around.

Kaito ran up to the flailing flower’s stem and severed it, killing the monster.

Khrom and Kaito successfully defeated the monster, and in celebration, they gave each other a walk-by high five.

“So that’s what that shield does,” Kaito deduced.

“Yeah, it can reflect magic and some projectiles,” Khrom confirmed Kaito’s deduction.

“Man, I need to get one of these weapons as soon as possible!” Kaito said eagerly, wanting a special weapon of his own.

“Maybe we can get one if there’s a boss in this place,” Khrom suggested, “but first we have to find the others.”

With Kaito in agreement, he and Khrom continued to explore the dungeon, hoping to reunite with Rina and Evona.