As he left the tent, Finn saw a group of five bearded dwarves happily eating around the campfire. The dwarves were eating without any rush or even caring about the tents around them. Shortly after, Darwin came out, staring at the five dwarves in disbelief.
"Good evening..." Finn greeted, not knowing how to introduce himself or make himself noticed.
The dwarves jumped a little in fright and turned to see Finn and Darwin behind them. One of the dwarves put down the meat he was eating and stood up quickly, wiping his hands on his silver armor and walking toward Finn.
"HOHOHO, where are my manners? Nice to meet you, young adventurer, I am Lornar Dragonflayer, leader of this great squad!" greeted Lornar, a dwarf with a black, graying beard carrying a large axe on his back. Lornar extended his hand to shake Finn's hand, who accepted without hesitation.
"Nice to meet you, Lornar. I'm Finn, one of the adventurers on this group" Finn introduced himself and greeted. "This here is my partner Darwin. We both belong to the same Freewalker guild."
"Wow, nice to meet you, young Darwin!" Lornar said, greeting Darwin as well and moving to see his companions. "What the hell are you guys waiting for? Come say hello!" Lornar ordered with a big smile.
The other four dwarves quickly stood up, forming a line next to their leader and greeting Finn and Darwin. Duraz Beastamer was the second to introduce himself, he was a dwarf a little wider and more muscular than the others, and was also second in command. Then Halordim, Snowvein's Iron Arm, introduced himself, he was the only one who didn't carry a weapon, and his left arm was a very advanced iron prosthesis. Next up was Zarasiss, the troll slayer, a dwarf wearing a long black hood with a huge axe on his back. Last was Klamli the redbeard, a somewhat more cheerful dwarf than the others and carried a huge club on his back. But what Finn found most curious was that this dwarf's beard was a very deep black, not red.
"Come on, come on, let's eat together!" said Lornar, inviting Finn and Darwin to join them by the campfire.
Seeing the dwarves' cheerful attitude, Finn and Darwin couldn't refuse the offer and joined them, listening to them talk about their travels.
"And what brings you to the Firorn kingdom? An important mission, perhaps?" asked Finn, eating a piece of meat.
"Oh yes, very important!" said Lornar, and all the dwarves nodded in agreement. "We have to meet up with an old friend of ours. But we ran into a damn basilisk and it took us off course!" Lornar said, getting angry as he remembered the monster they faced.
"A basilisk? There's one around here!?" Darwin asked, astonished.
"Yeah, we wanted to get rid of the bastard, but when we tied him up, one of the ropes holding him to the ground broke, and he ended up dragging us all through the forest until he came out in this field, and then he went east!" Duraz replied, pulling out a broken rope and a claw, probably from the basilisk.
"So, what are you guys doing here? Are you in the middle of a mission?" Lornar asked curiously, and Finn nodded.
"Yeah, we're traveling east, to a city called Everland. We have to clear a dungeon there" Finn said, surprising Lornar and the other dwarves.
"Everland, you say? We're going there too. We have to meet up with a friend a right before we get to Everland!" Lornar said.
"Then why don't you travel with us? It would be easier and safer" Darwin said, and Finn nodded in agreement.
"What a great idea! And if we encounter that basilisk again, then we'll kill it once and for all!" Klamli said, raising his mace to the sky and dropping it on the grass.
"Yes, we'll destroy that bastard!" Halordim said, raising his iron fist.
The group continued talking happily. The dwarves told them about their various adventures and journeys to the kingdom of Firorn. They also told them about the kingdom of Snowvein at Finn's request, who was curious about it. The dwarves were becoming increasingly boisterous, but Finn and Darwin didn't care. They laughed with them and woke the sleeping adventurers with their loud, carefree laughter.
Rodrick came out of his tent, seeing the campfire lit and the happy group talking among themselves. Confused by the sight of the dwarves, Rodrick quickly heads to the campfire.
"Lornar?..." Rodrick called, recognizing his friend.
"Rodrick!?... HA, so these adventurers are yours after all!" said Lornar, standing back up and giving Rodrick a firm handshake.
"Nice to see you, Lornar, but how did you get here? We were supposed to meet next week in a village before reaching Everland" said Rodrick, confused.
"HAHAHA, that's what I was telling your adventurers. A damn basilisk dragged us here, left us a few kilometers away before escaping!" Lornar said, laughing at the situation.
Rodrick touched the bridge of his nose, wondering what to do in such a situation. He hadn't planned for Lornar and his people to join them so quickly on the journey since they didn't know how the other adventurers would react. But then he secretly glanced at Finn and Darwin, who were laughing with the other four dwarves.
"So all the legends are true!? Nymphs do exist!?" Darwin asked, amazed.
"Of course they exist! They are very beautiful creatures. Many help adventurers rest and recover from their wounds. They love how the adventurers defend the creatures in any of their areas and kill the monsters that usually cause so much havoc and chaos in their areas!" Zarasiss said, taking a sip of his beer that no one knew where he got it from. "But don't be fooled. Just as they usually help you, they can also harm you. Not intentionally, of course. Many nymphs end up falling in love with adventurers who show great qualities and righteous hearts. But in their desire to be with the adventurer, they end up giving them the kiss of death!"
"Kiss of death?" Finn asked curiously.
"Yes, it is said that a kiss from a nymph is equal to or more powerful than that of a half-mytt and can heal almost any wound or poison. But if the kiss goes on too long and the nymph doesn't control her emotions, then this kiss will begin to consume the adventurers' souls little by little until they die" Halordim revealed, causing a shiver to run through Finn and Darwin.
Rodrick, seeing this interaction, nodded slightly before accepting the idea of traveling together to Everland. Little by little, the other adventurers emerged from their tents, watching the dwarves chat happily with Rodrick, Finn, and Darwin.
"I see you're awake now. That's good. Let me introduce you to some friends" Rodrick said, looking at the adventurers. "This is Lornar and his group. He came from Snowvein to help me accomplish another personal mission. They'll be traveling with us, so be nice, okay?" Rodrick ordered.
'Dwarves? This has to be a damn joke' Reynolds thought, looking at the dwarves with some distaste, but still trying to look friendly.
'That's all we need, a bunch of smelly, sweaty dwarves. It's simply magnificent' Ava thought, still staring at the dwarves.
'Why the hell did Sir Rodrick have to invite them? Those damn uncivilized beings' Gellen thought, looking at the dwarves with disgust.
'Ugh, I hope they don't come near me... I can smell their sweat even here' Annie thought, covering her nose.
The Slayer and Bluegate groups had all sorts of ideas about the Emanamos, while Blacklion's group simply stayed away. Being the oldest and most experienced, they had already worked with the dwarves once, giving them a rough idea of what they're like.
"Sigh, I hope these dwarves don't finish our food as quickly as the others" Charles whispered, and Salma nodded.
"At least these ones look more prepared and older than the others. Maybe they're not like the others" John whispered, trying to see the bright side.
"Okay, let's not delay any longer. The sun will rise in an hour, and we need to be on our way by then, so hurry up and pack everything up" Rodrick ordered, and all the adventurers nodded without hesitation.
—
At 5:00 a.m., everyone set off eastward again, but this time they were accompanied by the dwarves, who were traveling in the wagon with Blacklion, Finn, and Darwin.
Another five days passed quickly. The dwarves' constant banter and jokes lightened the tension of the journey, and from time to time they told stories of their lands and adventures, to which Finn listened attentively. During these days, they again encountered another group of bandits who also claimed to be part of the Lucky Golds, but this time the bandits were eliminated much more easily due to the presence of the dwarves, who didn't even let the bandits draw their weapons once they had already thrown themselves from the wagon at them.
Currently, the group was in the middle of a fight, as Rodrick had managed to identify some renegades from the capital who had murdered his companions and escaped with a large amount of loot.
Finn dodged a massive axe that plunged directly into the ground. Placing his foot on the axe and using his telekinesis, Finn managed to completely immobilize the axe. He watched as the renegade who attacked him turned red from the effort as he tried to swing it.
"What's wrong? Is it too heavy?" Finn asked, seeing the renegade standing a few inches away from him.
"Damn it... what did you do to my axe?!" the renegade asked, straining even more. "Let go of my axe!"
"As you wish" Finn said, removing his foot and his telekinesis, but tying his slime to the renegade's torso, preventing him from moving.
The axe came out of the ground at high speed, burying itself in one of the renegade's shoulders. The axe cut deeply into the shoulder, causing a large amount of blood to flow. Finn watched this with disgust, as he didn't want to get used to this kind of thing; he didn't think it was right.
"Well done, Finn!" exclaimed Klamli from the wagon, then lunged forward with his mallet in hand and smashed the renegade's head in.
Blood splattered everywhere, especially on Finn and Klamli's faces, who now seemed to have a red beard from all the blood in his beard.
"That's why they call him the redbeard…" Finn said to himself, wiping his face and making a mental note to avoid being near Klamli every time they fought. Finn turned to see how the others were doing in their fights when the sting returned, even stronger than before, making it difficult for Finn to hide the pain.
The dwarves fought ferociously, giving neither their opponents nor the adventurers a chance to join the fray. Zarasiss swung his axe with great speed, slicing in half almost any enemy he faced, and Halordim only had to move his hand slightly to severely damage them with his powerful blows.
"HA, these bastards are nothing compared to the basilisk we just faced before!" Lornar said, deflecting an attack with his shield and plunging his sword into the renegade's chest. "Even young adventurers have no trouble with them!" he said again, watching Darwin easily dodge the attacks and place his hand in the renegade's face, then unleash a great flame that burned the renegade to death.
"There are very few of them. I usually deal with many monsters at once," Darwin admitted, remembering how several monsters would come at him at the same time when he was clearing the goblin warlock bases.
The fight didn't last more than a few minutes, as all the renegades were completely eliminated. Some of the adventurers couldn't even get into the fight because most of them were handled by the dwarves.
Rodrick swung his sword swiftly, drawing all the blood running down it and then sheathing it again. Rodrick stopped in the middle of everyone, seeing that it was already getting dark.
"We'll camp a few meters from here, just enough so the smell of the bodies doesn't affect us" Rodrick ordered.
Everyone nodded without hesitation, but after advancing a few meters, Duraz stopped abruptly, drawing everyone's attention.
"Duraz, what's going on?" Darwin asked, curious at Duraz's strange smile.
Duraz didn't respond immediately and bent down, picking up what appeared to be a scale and a few feathers, followed by a trail of blood that led further east.
"The basilisk…" Duraz said excitedly, showing the scales and feathers to Lornar and Rodrick.
Rodrick looked closely at the objects before nodding in understanding and determination. Meanwhile, Lornar placed his shield on his back and took the scale, displaying a big smile.
"The rematch is coming, damn creature!" Lornar said excitedly.
"We're not going after the basilisk, are we?" Darwin asked Finn, but Rodrick's announcement was the answer.
"Everyone get some rest. Tomorrow will be a big test for you. Make sure you get a good night's sleep, or else… the basilisk might be the last thing you see on this trip" Rodrick ordered.
"Come on, Finn, Darwin. Tomorrow will be a great hunt. We won't let that bastard get away again!" Zarasiss exclaimed excitedly.
'Did I do something wrong in a past life to have to go through this?' Finn wondered.
'I'm going to die a virgin…' Darwin thought sadly. 'God Eros, help me! I swear if I survive this, I'm going to look for any non-human!' Darwin prayed.