The mountain trail had turned into an absolute furnace.
Erza stepped over a wide crack in the black rock, the glowing red light of molten lava reflecting against her dusty metal boots. The air was thick with the heavy stench of sulfur and smoke, making her throat feel completely dry. Her tattered iron chest-plate was warm to the touch from the heat radiating straight off the ground, but her posture remained stiff as she climbed higher up the volcanic slope.
She stopped on a wide, jagged ledge, her single brown eye scanning the dark trails ahead. Nothing. No tracks, no broken branches, and no sign of her target. She had been searching the crags for hours, and the heat was starting to make her vision blur.
Frustrated, Erza lifted her sheathed short sword and slammed the blunt leather scabbard hard against the stone floorboards of the ledge.
This is useless. I've been running in circles.
She took a slow, heavy breath, forcing her annoyance down as she closed her eye.
Wait. Merlin said this thing isn't a normal animal. It's a magical beast. That means it runs on Ethernano.
Standing perfectly still in the thick smoke, she cleared her mind. Under her skin, she opened her magic container's sensory range, extending her awareness outward into the mountain air. She pushed the circle wider and wider, tracking the invisible flow of magic through the rocks.
Second by second. Just a little further.
PING.
A sudden, dense wave of burning magical pressure echoed from a high, rocky ridge a few hundred meters up the slope. Erza's eye snapped wide open, a sharp focus returning to her face.
"Got you," she muttered.
She turned on her heel and dashed straight up the jagged rocks toward the signal.
While she was sprinting over the cracked black terrain, her mind quickly calculated the coming fight.
It's a fire beast. Fire magic is obviously out. My wind and thunder chants aren't stable enough yet to pierce its hide. Water it is.
She leaped over a narrow stream of flowing lava, her boots landing lightly on the other side as she skids onto a flat, smoking clearing. Sitting right in front of a dark cavern was the Fire Ogre.
The monster was twice her size, a grotesque, hulking beast covered in thick, crimson-tinted fur that actively sparked with miniature embers. Two jagged, yellowed bone tusks protruded fiercely from its lower jaw, and its heavy hide looked as thick as solid oak.
Erza stopped at the edge of the clearing, her hand resting flat against her sword hilt as she looked at the creature's red coat.
The leaflet said the client needs the pelt intact. I have to kill it without burning or ripping the fur too much.
The beast suddenly noticed her, its nostrils flaring as it let out a deep, rumbling growl.
"Let's get this over with," Erza said flatly.
She thrust her left hand straight forward into the open air, her mouth moving in a supersonic blur as she barked out the ancient verbal formula, driving the raw magic from her container into the sky.
"𐀃𐀪𐀊𐀗 𐀡𐀩𐀗𐀿 𐀞𐀔𐀒 𐀓𐀫𐀏𐀗!"
WOOSH!
The moment the high-speed chant finished, twelve massive, rushing chains of pure water erupted straight out of thin air. The liquid bonds slammed hard into the Fire Ogre, wrapping violently around its thick arms, torso, and legs, pinning its massive frame down onto the volcanic rock.
The Ogre let out a confused, muffled grunt, its yellow eyes wide with absolute bewilderment as it struggled against the sudden water trap, completely unable to break the hold of the spell.
Erza didn't waste a single millisecond.
ZING!
With a sharp metallic ring, she drew her plain steel sword straight from its scabbard. Under her skin, she locked down her Body Enchantment Magic, forcing a massive surge of power to reinforce her leg muscles and the very edge of the blade.
SWISH!
She leaped high into the air, crossing the distance in a flash as she brought the reinforced steel blade down in a single, clean downward slash. The magic-enhanced edge cut straight through the Ogre's thick neck like paper, completely bypassing the heavy hide.
THUD.
The massive head fell onto the dirt with a dull, heavy sound, dark blood pooling into the volcanic cracks as the body went completely limp.
Erza landed lightly on her boots, her breathing steady as she slid her blade back into its scabbard. She stopped, looking from her empty hand back to the massive monster still pinned by her water chains. Her face locked into a thoroughly confused expression.
Wait. That's it? It was that easy?
She blinked, unable to understand how a B-rank magical beast had dropped in a single strike. She had prepared herself for a brutal, exhausting struggle, but the verbal enchantment had completely bypassed the monster's defenses. She looked at her hands, then at the dead beast, and simply gave a small, simple shrug.
With a wave of her hand, she willed the spell to release. The twelve water chains instantly dissolved, disappearing into tiny, shimmering blue mots of light that faded into the smoking air.
Erza reached her hand out, a small golden ripple snapping open in the air as she used her Requip magic to pull out a sharp hunting dagger. She kneeled down in the dirt next to the massive carcass and got to work.
The harvesting was a messy, grueling task. She carefully drove the dagger beneath the collar of the neck, meticulously slicing through the heavy fur and peeling the thick red hide away from the meat, making sure not to tear the edges. Her hands were caked in grime by the time she managed to roll the heavy pelt together. Next, she took the blunt end of her blade, wedging it deep into the jawbone to pop the two jagged, white tusks clean out of the sockets.
She stood up, using the back of her forearm to wipe the thick sweat and trail dust from her forehead. Her muscles ached from the effort, but she looked down at her prize with a sense of quiet accomplishment.
"It's time to return to the guild," she muttered to herself.
She placed her hand forward, a wide golden ripple opening in the empty space. With a soft chime, the heavy rolled hide, the fur, and the jagged tusks vanished straight into her Requip space pocket, safely locked away.
The heavy iron locomotive let out a loud, screeching hiss of steam as it ground to a halt against the iron tracks.
The passenger doors swung open, a cloud of white vapor venting out onto the stone platform of the Magnolia train station. Twelve-year-old Erza stepped straight out of the car, her canvas bag slung over her shoulder, her boots covered in dark mountain mud. She adjusted her leather sword-belt, her single brown eye fixed on the familiar path leading back through the town streets.
Her two-week hunt was officially over, and she was completely ready to turn in her flyers.