"Goddammit!"
He slams the table in anger, having seen the event play out. He didn't know what happened in the end as the surveillance drone has been destroyed by those reddish werewolves.
Even if he is angry, he didn't have the capability to fight. So he can only stay here.
'Shit! This is so pathetic!' He thought in anger.
The girl might have been his member for a week, but she is already important for him. Despite her total belief on that Heromaker, she makes sure that she is helpful.
She is serious when it comes to her duty. Despite her bored looking face, she seems very dedicated to her principles.
She is one of his precious guildmates. He is not heartless enough to throw her under the bus.
"I must save her!" He mutters to himself.
He tries to think of a way how to get there without going there in vain. Just throwing himself on his enemies is not a viable option. It'll just be a waste and he won't achieve anything from doing that. He have the mind to know what he can and can't do.
"You seem to be in a pickle."
He turns to the witch who seems to be amused at his predicament. Just by her expression, he felt pissed.
"What do you want?" He asked and might have not concealed his anger at the way his tone turns a bit hostile.
"It looks like that little hero has become too stubborn. If she didn't hold back, she should have been able to defeat them."
"Just get straight to the point!" He grumbles under his breath.
The witch smirks. "How about I help you?"
He glares at her. "What do you want, I am sure it is not for free?"
"Oh. This is the first time I see you like that... your glare is becoming intense so I'll stop teasing you and tell you my demands."
"I want to know how to go beyond this mysterious barrier. That's all I wanted as a payment."
His glare intensifies before softening as he takes the time to think about it.
Kiryo is not here. She seems to be busy about something in her city. Elio has been likely captured. He don't know because the drone has been destroyed before it comes to that point. Only Merzalfit is here and is the one who can help him.
Merzalfit is a witch. She will make sure to cause chaos on her whims. If he let her do it, it will be his fault because he lets her.
'But this is the only way!'
"Okay. Wait for a moment."
He leaves the room and go inside his room to take the relevant tools and documents. After awhile, he came back and put the document on the table.
"If you really want to go beyond this room, then I must recruit you as my member."
She looks at it in amusement. "Oh, this is the first time I heard of it. Is this how those two can go outside without being stopped by the mysterious force?"
"Of course. You have to become my member before you can go outside."
The witch leaned her chin on her hand, thinking. "What does joining you entails?"
"It's just becoming a part of my guild. There are no more obligations and it is voluntary. You can quit my guild whenever you want, though you will lose the privilege to go outside." He said.
"I see." She smiles. "This is satisfactory. I accept this deal!"
After saying that, she takes the quill pen that he took along with him and use it to write her name on the document. After that, she passes the document to him.
He takes it and put it above the empty Guild Card. The document slowly turns into light particles before being absorbed by the Guild Card.
[Guild ID]
Name : Merzalfit
Age : 258
Gender : Female
Race : Witch
Affiliation : Foxtrot Guild
Residence : Foxtrot Guild
Rank : H
He looks at the results and felt a bit curious why her residence has been registered as his place.
'Maybe because she has been staying here for a week?' Those thoughts pass by his mind as he handed the Guild Card to her.
"Keep that Guild Card. It'll be your ID to indicate that your my member."
She takes the card and looks at it for a bit.
"Interesting..." She mutters to herself before storing it in her cleavage.
He felt a bit surprised at the way she just casually put it in there, but have quickly recovered from it.
'Calm down! This is normal for her, dammit!'
"So what should I do next boy... or should I say the Guild Leader now, right?"
He clicks his tongue. "Whatever. Just save Elio and bring her back safely."
"Of course. In my title as the Witch of Disaster, I will make sure to bring her back safely!"
He looks at her looking at him in amusement before adding something. "Right. This might be useless saying this, but I hope you don't cause too much damage on the area. It is fine if it's from those bastards, but please don't involve the anyone else."
She looks at him with a surprised expression, before she smirks. "Oya? You sound so concerned to the others?"
"Shut up, it's just wrong to involve the innocents on this debacle."
She closes her eyes, slowly nodding at his words.
"I see. Your a good person."
"Huh?"
Without giving him the chance to reply, she opens the door to go to the outside.
"Don't worry Guild Leader. I'll do it as extra just for you!~" She winks at him before walking out of the area.
"Huh? Hey, what do you mean by that!?"
He tries to follow her but when he got on the door, he didn't see her anymore. Only the crowd who are just staring at him in confusion are there.
"... Damnit, she's too cryptic!" He grumbled under his breath.
'I hope she really does her end of the bargain!' He hopes within himself.
~~o~~
Confident that the Foxtrot Guild is just a weak guild, only a single squad of guild members are marching towards the location of the guild.
They have a single defender, a single assassin, two mages, five swordsman, and three rangers.
They think Elio is the only strong member of that guild, and anyone else is just trash. They are going to destroy it with just this squad.
This has been a tradition. Every guilds are competing from everything, and destroying all opposition through different means.
As the guild ruling this district, they feel entitled to destroy anything they wanted here. It is their turf, so no one will dare stop them.
Those who tries to defy them will be met with destruction. There will be no mercy to those. If they want to survive, they should just obey them and lower their heads to the ground.
"I am sure this will be an easy job."
"Well, who told them to defy us? We are the Red Wolf Guild!"
"Right. Now they are being destroyed just because they don't give what we want!"
"Heh... they think they are some hot shit just because they have that girl. Now that she is not here, they are like sitting ducks!"
They laugh as they imagined a simple slaughter. They haven't even think that the Foxtrot Guild can fight back. They already think they win this battle.
"Oya? That's an interesting conversation you are having. Care to tell me all about it?"
Without any notice, a woman with a large pointy hat is already in their vicinity, her eyes narrowed and her lips quirk in amusement.
"Who!?"
They turned to her in surprised, not knowing how she got within their ranks without them noticing about it. It's like she just popped out of nowhere.
She greeted them with a graceful curtsy. "Greetings humans, I am Merzalfit. The Witch of Disaster who bears the Sin of Indulgence. May I know the name of my pitiful preys?"
"You dare!?"
Their assassin sneaks up behind her and stabs her on heart with his dagger. Without any resistance, the blade pierces through her back and goes straight to her beating heart.
"Heh? What a waste, so your just a weakling!" The assassin said with a snort.
"Hm? I am stabbed... that's boring..."
"Huh!?"
The witch turned to the assassin without caring about the dagger sticking behind her. Her smirk is still present in her face.
"I can feel the poison coursing through my veins, and my blood spilling out of my wound. Though, is this the only thing you can do?"
They widened their eyes at her casual display. She's just talking smug while ignoring the fatal wound on her body.
No matter if they are a human, a beastman, or an elf, they will die with this fatal blow. But she is just standing there and is mocking them despite the wounds on her back.
"W-what are you!?"
She grins. "Didn't I tell you? I am a witch!"
"What kind of nonsense are you spouting!?"
They can't understand what's the connection between her being a witch and shrugging off the fatal wound on her back. There is a Class Job known as Witch in this world, but they are not really immortal like her.
Merzalfit's world is different. The term "Witch" is a lot heavier, and have the same connotations as talking about Satan. They are the absolute evil that many Encroachment worships them, and have different cults with their name as the foundation.
Witches are immortal. It is impossible to kill them even if someone destroys their soul and their flesh.
The people here can't understand, so they think she is some sort of monster, or a lunatic who have some incredible skill.
The defender behind her charges at her. She didn't even move and just let him slam her to the ground with his shield.
The others follow up, attacking her while she is pinned to the ground. They hacked her limbs to pieces and uses fireballs to burn her to crisps. Her blood scatters on the ground as she was brutalized by these people.
After awhile...
They finally got tired and look at the body. They are surprised to see that her body is still intact even when a lot of blood covers her body.
"Are you done now?"
Just like a puppet, the witch stood up with her body returning to a standing position with some sort of unknown force. It's like some pulls her to the ground and let her stand without her doing anything.
She patted her dress that is now caked with blood and dirt. Her smile is still on her lips and her eyes amused.
"Aaaaaah!" One of the members screamed at this sight.
They can't believe that the one they brutalized is still standing and their strikes not being effective. They are like a joke, and she is just playing with them.
"She's a monster!"
"Run!"
"I don't want this anymore!"
"Who are you!?"
Their morale gone from her display of power, they wanted to run away.
Hearing the last one asking it in a panic, she smiled brightly at them.
"Well, I told you that my name is Merzalfit. Oh right... if it'll make it easier, then let me tell you. I am a member of the Foxtrot Guild!~"
All of them froze at her words, their mind trying to comprehend what she just said. After the words slowly registers in their brain, they slowly take a step back.
"Aaaaaaaah!"
"They didn't tell us that there is a monster among them!"
"Retreat! We can't do anything to her!"
"We're sorry!"
They scampered out, trying to escape from this place.
Though, she just grins at them. Her eyes glinting maliciously.
"Oh no, I can't let you leave like that."
She raises her hand and suddenly, the world stilled.
It felt like every sound vanishes as the fleeing Red Wolf Members halted in their movements. They can only move their eyeballs, their teeth chattering in fear.
They can't understand.
Why did they suddenly stop moving?
Why did the sound vanish?
As they are trying to make sense as to what is happening, the witch just slowly walks closer to them without any hurry. Her gait is calm and amused. Then she looks faces the assassin that stabs her on the back awhile ago, her face close to him as her eyes glows.
"Now then, I'd like you to answer me. I'm sure we'll have a fun time here."
She grins at him, causing him to widen his eyes in fear. There is some sort of aura from her that seems predatory, like he is facing the most terrifying being in the world.
Her laugh echoes on the streets. The civilians on the vicinity who have seen everything that occurs decided to run away, or lock themselves in their room by closing their doors or windows.
Only the sounds of her laugh and the scream of her victims can be heard other than that.