Ascension of the Primalist [A Tamer Class, LitRPG]

After an hour that felt both short and agonizingly long, Seth pushed himself stiffly to his feet, done healing thanks to aether in his body. The searing pain from their fight with the Ice Elemental had subsided to a dull, throbbing ache that settled deep in his bones. Nearby, Kaelen was assessing his range of motion, twisting his torso to test the wound in his side.

Once satisfied, the Dark Assassin, Seth, and Nightmare left their small refuge carved into the rock face and continued along the riverbank. The distortion field was still humming around them, so the direwolf couldn't go back into the teardrop necklace and was forced to remain by their side.

Seth's gaze landed briefly on the torrent of water next to them. The raging river was tearing chunks from the cavern floor as it thundered past. Even from several yards away, its sheer force sent sprays of water onto them. Crossing it would be suicide, even for someone with the enhanced strength of a Wielder.

Hopefully Colossus is on this side, he thought, though his eyes darted over to the opposite bank.

The trio's respite was short-lived. Less than ten minutes into their march, two figures emerged ahead of them: a towering Earth Elemental with a granite body and a Water Elemental swirling up from the nearby river. Thankfully, neither radiated the overwhelming pressure of a Silver-Tier beast.

The fight was over almost before it had even begun. Seth unleashed Dusk Scythes, and the dark blade of condensed energy hissed through the air as he charged the Earth Elemental. Simultaneously, Kaelen blurred to the side, though the man winced in pain. The Dark Assassin's daggers glowed with a phantom purple as he engaged the Water Elemental.

Almost simultaneously, Nightmare darted in low and sank fangs into the Earth Elemental's side. Black corrosive smoke ate through stone like acid, creating a deep hole in the darkened rock.

Seth struck at the weakness without hesitation. His scythes cleaved the creature in two with three quick slashes, and the massive body of stone shuddered before collapsing into a pile of lifeless rubble. A heartbeat later, Kaelen's daggers flickered out and finished off the Water Elemental. Its churning form collapsed into a puddle that spread thin across the cavern floor.

Leaving the two beaststone behind, they resumed their grim run in silence. The brief, brutal efficiency of the fight had done little to ease the renewed tension between Seth and Kaelen. Whatever words they had shared an hour earlier had changed little: they remained allies of circumstance.

Seth felt the weight of it with every glance toward the Dark Assassin. They were both driven by hatred, forced to fight a war they didn't care about, yet in a week they could find themselves on each side of the Warfare Rift, ordered to kill one another.

After another dozen minutes of running, Seth felt the ground abruptly tremble beneath their feet; Kaelen skidded to a halt ahead, his head snapping up. Seth stopped beside him as his core stirred in his chest and Nightmare's Danger Sense flared to life. The sound of a battle echoed through the cavern: the deep, reverberating boom of stone on stone. The moment they rounded a bend, the source of the noise came into view.

A massive Earth Elemental, nearly twice the size of the ones they were used to, was relentlessly hammering a familiar, gold-and-hazel beast. Colossus. The scorpion stood like an impenetrable bastion, his massive shell absorbing the relentless blows as he shielded a small silhouette that moved behind him after each attack.

The woman—her dark hair plastered to her face with sweat and grime—struck out with twin daggers that sparked uselessly against the Elemental's stone. The weapons were desperately searching for a weakness that wasn't there.

"Shit," Seth muttered, already dashing forward and casting Intermediate Identify as Nightmare vanished with Illusionary Emptiness by his side.