"Hey Orrin, what do you think that roar was?" Zero asked, his eyes focused on the darkness ahead.
"Do not speak so casually to me." Orrin adjusted his glasses. "And I am sure it was some sort of aberrant."
"An aberrant, huh? Haven't actually seen one before, other than the ones considered safe and allowed in the city."
"Neither have I, but if we become fragment knights, we'll see them quite often."
"Yeah… you don't think we have to fight the damn thing to pass, do you?" Zero was sweating a bit, thinking about what would happen if he tried to fight something with that fearsome roar.
Orrin was getting annoyed. His face clearly showing it.
"Drop that tone. It makes us look like equals. And I have no idea." Orrin replied.
"Damn noble…"
Zero took a deep breath and swallowed.
"Well… I'm going on ahead…" Zero said.
"Guess I have no choice but to follow you…"
They walked forward, leaving the light behind them. Their footsteps echoing throughout.
"So, what should we do if we encounter that aberrant we heard? They teach nobles anything special to deal with them?" Zero turned to Orrin.
"No, we do not study aberrant theory before we get our fragments." Orrin was a bit more cooperative, knowing he'll be stuck with Zero until they pass the first phase.
"Makes sense…" Zero turned his gaze back to the front.
They had reached a point with no light source in sight. They could only feel the stone beneath their feet and hear their footsteps.
But then, Zero suddenly stopped.
"Hey street rat, why have you stopped?" Orrin said irritated, wanting to pass the first phase as fast as possible.
"Don't call me 'street rat'. Look straight ahead."
It looked like two sources of green light hovering in the dark, and it was right in front of them.
"I think the examiner placed it there so we can use it to light up this dark place." Zero said.
"That seems logical, but they don't seem to be too bright. Maybe enough to show stuff really near it."
"Still better than nothing, let's go check it out."
They got closer and closer, but something didn't feel quite right.
As they got close enough, they saw it. The green lights lit up some feathers, and a beak of some kind.
That's when they realize it.
The green they see isn't light.
It's a pair of eyes.
"FUCK!" Zero felt a wave panic throughout his body. "ORRIN! WE NEED TO RU-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Zero got hit by a beak, a beak that split into two smaller beaks at the end.
Zero was sent flying backward, bouncing off the ground several times, the stone floor getting ruined in the process.
Zero's body came to a halt after several brutal bounces.
"Damn…" Zero gasped for air, barely able to talk.
Orrin's legs started running out of fear. He ran back until he reached Zero, and the aberrant didn't follow.
"The damn thing isn't following…" Orrin's breath was heavy, and the fear crack his formal attitude.
"Mind helping me up? Or are you too noble?" Zero asked.
Orrin reached out a hand to help, but he wasn't exactly happy about it.
Zero got up with the help of Orrin, and he immediately got to thinking.
That aberrant is blocking the path, and it isn't following us, that must mean its purpose is to make sure we don't get past it. It's also dark, so we can't see anything besides its eyes. These thoughts rushed Zero's brain, but street rats like him didn't have the education he needed to form a plan.
"Hey Orrin, I'm not smart enough to form a plan, so I'll leave that up to you."
"Tch… fine, guess it can't be helped."
"I'll go see if there's any way we can get past the aberrant in the mean time."
With that, Zero started walking toward the green eyes again, leaving Orrin to think alone.
That street rat… how'd he recover from that hit so fast? Nobles and royals have access to the training needed for that since childhood, but people like him don't. He recovered way too fast. But now's not the time to think about that! Orrin's brain flooded with thoughts.
Suddenly, Zero came flying back.
"Well that was quick, I'm guessing you weren't able to find a way past it?" Orrin asked.
"Nope!" Zero stood up, still a bit shaken from the second hit.
"Well, I've got an idea." Orrin adjusted his glasses.
"Well? What is it?"
"We use the cells to our advantage."
"The hell are a couple of cells going to do?"
"One of us will open the door to a cell just inside the range of the aberrant, but not close enough to provoke it."
"I don't see how that'll help…"
"Just shut up and listen! I'm not done!" Orrin was frustrated.
"Geez, calm down…"
Orrin sighed.
"Then the other one will provoke the thing and run to the open door. As soon as it attacks, the one who provoked it will dodge and the one who opened the cell will close the cell, trapping the head." Orrin continued.
"Uh huh…" Zero listened closely.
"It's strong so it'll only be trapped for a couple of seconds, in that time, the one who provoked it will run to the other side of the thing and hope there's something there that can help defeat it."
"Hey! That could work! You're pretty smart!"
"Of course I am, I am planning to be a mage after all."
"Well… that'll depend on the fragment you get. Anyway, lets go with your idea. I'll provoke it, you open the door."
"Don't order me around, but that'll be for the best." Orrin adjusted his glasses.
Orrin walked over to the cell near the aberrant and kept the door open while Zero got ready to draw the aberrant's attention.
"Just give me the signal Orrin."
"NOW!"
Zero stepped right in front of the beast, shaking in fear as he took a deep breath.
The aberrant noticed Zero and got ready to attack.
Zero then ran over to the open cell door, which was at the things left. Zero felt like he might die at any moment, the aberrant was truly terrifying.
The aberrant's beak shot towards Zero at an insane speed, but he managed to step aside in time.
"ORRIN! CLOSE THE DOOR! NOW!" Zero's voice was one filled with fear.
Orrin closed the door with all his might, barely holding the aberrant's head inside.
"RUN! NOW!" Orrin shouted.
Zero quickly ran past the beast from the right side of the narrow path.
As soon as he stepped behind the aberrant, the entire dungeon was filled with light.
That's when they got a good look at the aberrant.
It had the head of an eagle, and a beak that split into 2 smaller beaks at the end. The rest of its body also looked like an eagle, but it had four wings instead of two, and all the feathers it had were pitch black. It was huge, big enough to almost block the entire path.
But Zero didn't have time to think about that.
He immediately looked around. His eyes landed on a big sword on the ground, right behind the aberrant. It had a white blade and a wooden handle. It was about the height of Zero.
"The examiner probably left it there for us!" Zero said.
"JUST HURRY UP! I CAN'T HOLD THIS THING FOR MUCH LONGER!"
Zero then grabbed the big and heavy sword, lifting it without much trouble.
He then swing it sideways, cutting its talons off. It fell in the ground, blood pouring out of its talons.
Zero then jumped onto its back, stabbing it and then running and driving the sword forward towards its head.
The aberrant roared out in pain.
But Zero had no plans on stopping.
Blood gushed out of the eagles body, Zero was soaked in it.
Before Zero could reach its head, the aberrant died.
The sword immediately disappeared after the aberrant's death, along with the aberrant's corpse.
"Hey! The blood on me is also disappearing!" Zero said.
"We… we did it..!" Orrin let out a sigh of relief. "That aberrant is called the double-beak, it looks like an eagle but with a beak that splits into two, and it's the only eagle-type aberrant with a roar. I read about it in a book once."
"Yeah, I don't really care about what it's called." Zero looked forward. "We're still here, so we haven't passed yet… time to go forward then!"