"Huh?" Grace blinked several times in disbelief and Jenny wasn't any different while her husband had a scowl in his face.
"What did you just say?" Grace believed that she must've mistook what she had heard.
Sylph sighed before repeating calmly. "I said your daughter is most probably dead." She knew that she was being blunt but that couldn't be helped, that's how she was.
She lost the ability to feel much emotions after everything that had happened in her life.
Grace flew into rage. She stomped towards Sylph while screaming. "That's a lie! Who told you that, huh! How can you tell me that my daughter is dead? Is that supposed to be some kind of joke!"
She stood in front of Sylph who remained silent. The more she stared at the hooded lady in front of her, the more annoyed she became and not being able to take it any much longer, she bawled while taking off Sylph's hood.
"Look at me!"
As Sylph's face came into full view her eyes widened as she subconsciously took three steps backwards due to shock.
"W-what….w-who are you?" Grace floundered. Jenny's jaw dropped as she stared at Sylph dumbfounded. She knew the person within the hood was exceptional, but this went beyond her expectations.
The man wasn't any better off. Much better put, he was in an even worse condition. At first he was shocked, but now he could feel something within him rising.
'James! What the hell are you doing? This isn't the time for this.' He scolded and tried to control himself.
Seeing their reactions, Sylph figured that this was the best time to explain.
"I and my partner were sent on a mission here. To terminate a certain abyssal in the forest regions which had killed lower ranked sentries. But when we got there, the abyssal was gone and we ended up tracking it back to this town. Ever since then we've been searching for it, but with no luck."
They listened to what she was saying, more composed than ten seconds ago.
"Today I came across some signs in an alley which showed that the abyssal was in this neighborhood and it seemed like the abyssal had encountered someone in that alley."
She stopped allowing them to digest what she was saying.
Grace heart was beginning to beat faster as she waited for Sylph to continue, which she did.
"I found some blood stains along with that locket which also had blood stains on it."
A whimper escaped Grace's mouth as she placed her hand over it as tears began flowing from her eyes. Jenny broke down in tears not wanting to believe what she was hearing.
Grace's husband walked towards her, giving her a hug with tears also in his eyes.
"Like I said, it is still most likely. Even though the chances of her being a victim is very high, it doesn't cancel out the possibility of her being alive. So don't lose all hope," said Sylph, as Grace nodded weakly.
"This case is about an abyssal and is beyond the capacity of the police. I'll be handling it personally."
Having said and gotten what she came for, she stood up from the chair and headed out leaving the grieving couple and Jenny.
Before she crossed the door she paused and wore her hood. "I can't promise to bring your daughter back but I can assure you that whatever that abyssal is, it won't stay alive much longer."
She left those words with them before walking away.
******************************
5 hours later,
Sylph was seated on top of a building, she had done a lot of work during this time and had gathered even more information.
As expected, Alice wasn't the only person who had fallen into the hands of the abyssal as there were several more and this always happened in alleys.
The residents of the town especially this neighborhood had began to notice something was wrong, as the cases of missing people increased everyday.
She discovered that the abyssal mostly attacks children and teenagers and changes its location after 2 to 3 hits. She has been studying its pattern and it won't be long till she finds it.
Now, she was currently investigating Alice's case. She had a red hair band in her hand, something she found in the alley were Alice was probably attacked. She had seen this the first time she entered the alley but didn't think much of it.
But when Grace told her that Alice had gone to see someone, the hair band came flying into her mind, so she asked if Alice was the owner of the hair band but she got a negative response which meant it belonged to someone else which presented the chance that someone else might have been there when it happened.
And Sylph who leaped away from the roof and landed with a dull thud was on her way to visit Alice's friend who lived four blocks away.
She checked the time which read 2:16pm while strolling towards her destination.
When she crossed a distance of two blocks she noticed some movements in an alley which caused her eyebrows to furrow as she walked in. And when she was 20 meters in two men walked out from hidden areas behind her with bats on their hand.
She turned back seeing the lewd grins on their faces and looked in front of her where three extra men who seemed to have just appeared stood.
The man at the center of the men in front of her took off his sunglasses with a whistle.
"What do we have here? It looks like someone took the bait. I hoped to catch a dolphin but I ended up with a shark." He looked up to the sky with tears in his eyes.
"Grandma, you really are watching over me." He cleaned the tears in his eyes before looking at Sylph with a grin. "I just hope you don't bite."
They all busted into laughter while drawing closer to her.
A thought came to her mind after hearing what he said as she muttered. "That's not a bad idea."
They stared at her as though she was crazy. Not only did she say something strange, she also acted normal not showing any trace of fear. This annoyed him a little.
"I don't know if you're brave or crazy, but don't worry, I'll take charge no matter which it is. Just be a good girl and you won't get hurt." He pulled out a knife still walking closer to her.
"Boss! Look at her, don't you think it would be better on a bed than here," a man behind voiced out.
"Hmmm!" Their leader looked at her in contemplation. "You're right. For the first time you thought from above and not below. I'm glad that you're growing up. For that, I'll be granting you 15 seconds more."
"Thank you for your generosity. I promise to make you proud during that short period." He bowed his head while licking his lips.
"Huh?" Their leader looked at him with a frown. "Is it too short?"
"No boss, I was just joking. It's more than enough. I'll show you why they call me, 'THE EXCAVATOR'." His grin grew larger.
The other men were jealous at his luck and promised to use whatever time they had to the fullest.
The man who had been graced was the first to reach her, still with the large grin, he stretched his hand towards her, but before it could make contact, he felt something slam into his stomach which caused his eyes to widen.
He coughed out blood while shooting backwards as gushes of wind spread across the alley which caused the rest to slightly skid backwards as they used their arms to block their faces.
When they brought their hands down they could see that the hood which covered her head had been blown open revealing her full face in its glory.
Instead of being frightened and worried about what she just did, they were gob smacked to the extent that their eyes refused to blink.
Before they could regain their senses a similar attack was sent out, this time to the two men behind her. They were affected the same way as the first man who had fallen victim as another gush of wind was sent out.
In front of her stood one man who kept shivering in fright. This meant that someone was missing.
Of course it was their boss.
He had faced many near death experience so his survival instinct and skills were on another level.
The moment she sent the second attack he was brought back to his senses and realized how much he had messed up, and without a second thought, he fled for his life while cursing his grandma.
Sylph stretched out her hand towards the man who was left and within a second he thought of multiple possibilities of what this action might mean, which marked the highest processing his brain has ever undergone.
He scurried towards her before handing over the bat he held, which she received with a nod as he stood beside her like a nervous puppy.
Sylph squinted her eyes towards the direction where their boss who felt a little safe had ran off to, as wind began swirling around her.