Freedom Jumper-Chapter 119: Chomp and Roll

"Elijah, since you have always been creating these fabulous plans inside your head, please... allow me to take the lead on this one."

"I'll bite. But just so you know, if these beasts get a hold of you in their mouth, you are dead." Elijah responded to Niko while painting a scene with his hands. While Elijah knew these beasts would be slightly different from alligators in his previous life, he also knew the fundamental principles of this beast would remain the same.

The infamous chomp and roll...

Niko Explained how they first needed to get to high ground. After scaling the tall tree to the thick branch that still allowed them cover, Niko began explaining the next part of the plan. The throw of a century that would create an explosion to eliminate most of them at the exact same time.

"Ahem... Try again. That would destroy their beast cores and we are in dire need of those."

Niko softly slapped his own face in annoyance.

"To keep the beast cores intact, I will create a clone to draw them together. Once they begin feasting, I will use my fire magic to incapacitate as many as possible while you drown them with your water magic. Any stragglers can be taken care of by you I assume?"

"You know what Niko? I like the sound of this plan. It has been some time since I have used my water affinity for combat." Elijah responded with a straight smile while taking the invisible runes out of his spatial storage. Elijah planned to fly to the other side as he would not be able to catch any stragglers from this distance.

With a small hand wave from both Elijah and Niko, the plan was set into motion with a clone of Niko slowly walking through the bushes. The life inside this clone was obviously not there as its motions were of a robot. However, this still did not stop the alligators from jumping into the river – almost struggling to make their way across.

Of course, just like with everything, plans often do not go according to plan...

"STOP! SAVE HIM!!"

An unfamiliar voice sent both Elijah and Niko into panic. Who could possibly be near the area?!

With this new development, Elijah threw a considerable portion of his mana into the water. In a matter of seconds, The alligators violently swimming across the wide river began to truly struggle for their life!

"KID! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" A fit woman with neck-length white hair and brown eyes tackled Niko's clone while Niko was watching from above.

Contrary to her feminine clothing, she was quite strong according to Niko who watched from above.

Trying his best to save the situation, Niko tried to take control of the clone. A last ditch effort to stop anyone from finding out the truth.

Success!

While Niko's true body slumped to the curved edge of the thick branch and tree trunk, his consciousness appeared inside the clone who was being dragged deep into the forest, escaping its predators.

"Let me go! Let me go!!" Over and over again, Niko used whatever he could to allow himself to escape – all the while being in shock from the feat he had just pulled off.

"Sorry kid. I don't know what you were trying to do, but we are taking you in." The women said while surrounded by a boy who looked around their age – their fake age...

Meanwhile, Elijah had seen everything unfold, but focused his efforts on drowning the alligators who were now spitting and breathing fire in any direction possible. This plan was perfect, and probably a plan Elijah would have thought of himself.

In a matter of minutes and focused effort, the alligators were no more besides a few stragglers he blew holes in with his fists.

While hurriedly digging into the tough scales Elijah was able to find four beast cores out of the nine he had killed. They were a perfect circle, bright orange, and opened questions as to the differences between The Catacomb's beasts and the outer world.

Now, it was time to find Niko. Passing by his body that was unconscious in a tree allowed Elijah to surmise what had happened. Either mana exhaustion or inhabiting his clone.

Flying through the top layer of the trees was Elijah scanning the area. Time moved very fast once Niko was spotted. Just as the group of three were about to enter into a clearing that would take them to a gate, Elijah sped through the trees and bushes creating sound to slow their progress. With a moment of hesitation, Elijah appeared in plain sight – blocking their path forward.

"Whoa! Who in the gods are you?" A gray haired boy said, staring deeply into his eyes.

"You took my friend as we were about to kill those beasts!" Elijah said in a fake angry tone.

"He's telling the truth!" The gray haired boy said.

Niko returned to squirming. "Ugh! Let me go already!"

"Hey! Explain to me why I couldn't see you then." The white haired girl asked angrily.

"I was high up in the trees. My friend was bait, and using my water affinity I was planning on drowning the beasts before they got to him..." Elijah calmly explained as Niko had now been released. They need to keep the idea of beginner adventurers going.

"Well since you didn't bother to sign up for this region, I could take you to the enforcers for a crime!"

Elijah had completely forgotten about the ways of the hunter guild back in Astraea. However, how did Richter forget to tell us about this simple fact? "I'm sorry, we just wanted to wake up early and get it done. We will never ever do something like this again."

"My name is Songa, and I will cut you some slack as long as you have killed those beasts." She said while flipping her neck length white hair to the side and walking to the place of attack.

Elijah and Niko followed behind while whispering to each other about the situation. It was evident Niko was having some trouble in this body, even when it was an exact copy of himself. Placebo?

The towering trees opened into a scene of a few burnt branches and tree trunks. On the edge of the water, was nothing but bleeding and lifeless corpses of embergator's, while the rest had likely rode the stream further down. Songa asked where the rest were after being surprised by the situation, and began running while carrying the boy that called himself Kithus down the edge of the river.

Without hesitation, Elijah flew Niko up to his real body, and after just a minute of feeling around, he reentered his true body.

"Do you want me to destroy it?" Elijah asked while feeling hesitation within Niko's soul. It did make sense, to destroy a complete copy of yourself, one that your soul had just inhabited, was a feat that required the will of the gods.

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In the end, Niko slowly slid down the tree after asking Elijah to do it himself.

Staring at the cold and lifeless corpse, Elijah could only stare. "Ahhh... Am I really hesitating as well? I had thought I lost my humanity..."

Bam!

Niko pointed in the direction of a stone barrier that didn't seem to stop the water, but only the beasts. The conversation quickly turned into an argument about who would take the cores. Elijah concluded that they should split the cores evenly while keeping it a secret that he already had four. This resulted in Elijah now holding onto seven orange beast cores that were stuffed in a spatial ring – after parting ways and realizing his spatial bracelet was completely full.

The entire ordeal had taken just a little over an hour according to Elijah. After taking the safe route of strapping invisible runes to their body, they appeared within a secluded area of Tavenas on the southeastern side.

Now, the struggle has begun. Finding the way home would surely be a difficult task, but luckily, they had seven orange beast cores that would hopefully give them a return worth the trouble.