70 Teleported out

After disappearing out of thin air, the walls that supported Vaharacht collapsed with tremendous force. Debris was fired like a bullet thanks to the violent force that was brought unto it. 

The Xyn scattered, non-combatants scattered and fled while the combatants prepared and fought back to push the assailants. 

The Jakari have successfully invaded the Border city. 

***

Leonard held his head, looking around he noticed one thing. The topography changed. The amount of boulders around him are a lot, the ground is grey-ish black. 

He had no time to be scared or confused; he packed himself up and moved to a place with cover, making sure he was hidden. He had to regulate mana on his body as well. The dungeon mana may be thick but an oil in the water is still noticeable. 

Hiding is the best option for now, thanks to the nature of the surroundings he had a lot of places to take cover. 

And since he's on the lowest floor of the dungeon, everything is dangerous, even plants. 

Leonard looked at the parchment that held the teleportation circle. His heart was pounding, why did everything go this way?

He looked around, there's no light source yet the whole place was bright enough. He thoroughly scanned his surroundings, grey-ish black and the whole place is damp. 

Like a cave. He calmed his breathing, everything could kill him here, just one wrong move he would have done. 

Then he heard shuffling. He looked behind him as soon as a shadow loomed over him, he looked behind with a spell already in mind just before he stopped when he saw the person whose shadow belonged to. 

Ice blue hair, and clear white skin, not pale skin like humans, actually white skin. Fangs below the jaws and Greek nose. And it's a girl. 

"Who are you?" she asked curiously. 

Leonard was confused at first, but then remembered about the translation glyph. Then he answered her. 

"Leo…." he stopped "Just Leo."

"Hmm… why are you here?"

The girl jumped and landed beside Leonard, she had a nomadic feel because of her clothes, it has reddish brown clothes engraved with stylish patterns. She has a necklace tied with a fang. 

"No, before I answer that. Who are you?"

"Jai, my name is Jai!" she cheerfully answered. "So why are you here?"

She asked innocently and curiously. Her height seems to be a bit taller than Leonard. 

"I… I just appeared here out of nowhere."

"Eh…?"

She then walked closer. Looking at Leonard closely. She seems curious for her age. 

"How old are you?"

"11 cycles."

"cycle? Yeah, when the dungeon makes another level it's another cycle."

Leonard nodded and looked at her curiously as well, she is built similarly to a human, her only difference is that her skin is pure white and her hair ice blue, her eyes sparkle like the stars with its white colour. 

"Uhm… are you a jakari?"

"Yep! But what about you…?"

Leonard pondered for a moment what to say, but since she's a kid she probably has no role in her community yet. So the chance is low that she knows about a human. 

"I'm a human, an unlucky one." Leonard chuckled. 

"Do humans have red hair?"

"No, no. We have a lot of hair colours, I'm just special."

She then sat close to Leonard, Leonard felt the force of her sitting, it was very strong. 

"Jai, please be careful."

"hm?"

"I'm weak."

Jai tilted her head as if she doesn't understand, Leonard sighed and then picked up a pebble. 

"Look." He threw the pebble at a nearby boulder, it just bounced off. "That's how strong I am."

Jai looked even more confused, she took a pebble and threw it to the same boulder and it shattered within impact leaving a crater on the boulder. 

"Why are you that weak?!"

"It's because I'm a human."

The little Jakari girl pondered again, not getting the concept of Leonard being weak. It's not that she didn't know what weak was, she was wondering why Leonard is weak specifically. 

"Don't think much about it…" 

Leonard sighed. 

"So why is Leo here?"

Leonard wondered why this specific Jakari would talk to him, but it's not like he has other plans. Since she's here he decided that talking is a good thing. 

"I'm unlucky, But why is Jai here? This… cave?"

"This is my hiding spot."

"Your… hiding spot?"

"Yep!" Jai answered cheerfully. 

Leonard stood up and looked around, the cave seemed empty, only Leonard and Jai being it's occupants. 

"Oh, so… nobody comes here except you?"

"Mhmm!" Jai hummed. 

Leonard pondered for a moment before his stomach started grumbling, he was red with embarrassment, he scratched his cheek and looked at Jai. 

"Do you have any idea how to get food?"

"I know… hehe…"

Leonard was then dragged by Jai, she started showing Leonard how to live in the new location he was teleported in. It was a forest, like the Amazon Forest, the only difference is that it contained more danger. 

Including the Titan electric eel. It was big and the amount of electricity it produces is enough to power a city ruled by a baron. 

Jai taught Leonard how to survive but since Leonard's biology isn't meant to survive at the bottom of the dungeon, he created tools of leverage. 

"So that's a magical tool the elder makes."

Jai exclaimed in awe, she held a tool that Leonard uses for cooking, it was similar to stove, since Leonard is in the realm of Bishop he understood the circle needed to make a tool that can control the head of the flame. 

"Yeah, it's very convenient."

Leonard spoke back, Leonard now was in the process of puberty so his previous tone sometimes cracks. 

"Pfft!" Jai snickered. 

"Hey! Don't laugh at me, I'm growing up!"

When Jai heard that she stood up and went to Leonard, she stood so close that their noses would touch. Leonard flinched back and was confused about Jai's intention. 

"I'm still taller~"

Jai sneered, which made Leonard annoyed, popping a vein on his forehead. 

"Oh really? At least I don't get my head stuck on some vines unlike a certain someone who lives here."

"T-that was an accident!" Jai protested. 

"Hmm… really~?" Leonard teased that poor girl. "Oh what about that time you hit your head on a root? Kekeke!" Leonard held his laughter. 

"Ngh…" Jai stood embarrassed. "okay that's it I'm leaving!" 

She turned around with a huff, making her remember embarrassing things is the way Leonard fights back since he can't fight her on a physical level. 

Leonard then hugged her from the behind. Using his feet to stop her from moving. 

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"

This might look sweet but Leonard's legs are screaming because trying to stop Jai from walking away will take all of his energy to do so. Even with this method. 

Jai with her pride flicked her head away from Leonard. Pouting. Leonard just chuckled at this behaviour. 

"I'm sorry Jai, can you forgive me?"

Leonard spoke in a soft and gentle tone, as if asking for a second chance. Thanks to that display Jai turned around and stopped leaving. 

"Fine."

Leonard snickered. He would've continued teasing Jai but he had to cook so he went back to his business. For four months, Leonard had been in the same cave. 

He learned Jakari culture and tradition thanks to Jai, and he learned a few things. The Jakari had invaded Vaharacht and were successful. 

Leonard has no idea what Zhar'kerut was doing now but he had no capacity to care about them right now. He has a job to do and he needs it done. 

Escaping the Dungeon. 

And there is a way. After he finished cooking, he looked at the parchment, containing a teleportation spell. 

"You're still memorising that?"

"Yep, it's hard, but I have to persevere."

"Are you going to leave?"

When Jai spoke her tone was sad, she seemed attached to Leonard. Well Leonard can't deny that he was attached as well. 

"Yeah… I have a family to go back to…"

"Family…"

Jai nodded as she understood, she has a family too that she loves, but that family is only limited to a brother. Which is conscripted to the military right now. 

While they did take over Vaharacht and said that it was successful, Leonard firmly believed that it wasn't the end. The Xyn are probably engaged in urban combat within the city. 

Leonard complicated feelings over the way with the two races, it is probably the feeling after being exposed to the two races themselves. 

Or the fact he isn't born under the two, so there is no feeling of loyalty but rather concern for the two races. So he decided to be a bystander, with no loyalty between the two. 

Leonard closed the parchment. Now is not the time to study the circle. He grabbed bowls and shared the soup he made with Jai. 

"Here."

"Oh! Thank you!"

Jai happily ate the soup, she and Leonard had been hunting dungeon monsters in earnest, not in a direct confrontation but rather by trapping. Dungeon monsters tend to commit till they die in a battle so Leonard devises some plan to capture and exhaust the monsters till they can safely kill it. 

Thanks to that, they could either eat or exchange the corpse to the town by the Jakari carried by Jai. 

That's how Leonard got his materials for magical tools. They repeated the process of hunting by trapping. Even if Jai is strong thanks to her racial trait she's still a child. And the dungeon monsters aren't to be taken lightly. 

"So how much of that circle do you understand?"

While eating, Jai asked Leonard a simple question, she asked this sometimes in which Leonard delightfully answers. 

"About 20… to 30%? It's very complicated, the lines all have some intent that I couldn't comprehend or it's probably connected to another line. Either way, it's not impossible to decipher."

"wow! Magic is hard to understand."

"True, what about you? Any luck in warrior training?"

Just like Leonard, Jai is training in the town thanks to an instructor that teaches kids how to fight. Think of it as a priest that goes to a village to teach kids how to write, but in this situation they teach kids how to fight. 

When the idea was exposed to Leonard he was surprised at first, he learned that some Jakari couldn't fight well and just become government officials. If the Xyn are bureaucrats then the Jakari are Militaristic. Their format of a society is completely alien to Leonard that he gave up understanding the intricacies. 

But to simplify the Jakari society, the ranking is the same as a strict regime. 

Warlord, Zeek, Chief Warrior, Head Warrior, and Greenhorn. The Warlord is like the king and the rest are ranking for a parliamentary system for governing.  

"Nothing in particular." Jai answered, her eyes swaying to the right. 

Leonard smirked, at first he wanted to use the girl to live or rather survive, but he got attached. So even if she lied, which she is doing now, he won't even mind. She wanted to stay a bit more so did he. 

"Shame. But it can't be helped. There's more soup, you want more?"

"Yes please!"