"Skreeee!"
With a screech, a B-rank monster that looked like a featherless mix between the extinct terror bird, a lizard and a chicken, the cockatrice, bit down at me. I dodged to the side and slashed at its neck, adding another injury onto its body.
"Skrik!"
A hail of ice arrows cast by Merlin pelted its body, but most of them simply bounced off harmlessly. The cockatrice had the [Stoneblood Circulation] unique skill, giving it great resistance to magical damage and making all of its attacks cause petrification around the wound it inflicted. Thankfully, that was not a problem for me and Merlin because of our [Abnormal Status Immunity].
"Focus on halting its movements!"
I yelled out at Merlin, whose attacks weren't doing much in the way of bringing the monster down, and blocked another of the cockatrice's attempts to bite my head off. Despite my high stats, this B-rank monster proved to be rather annoying.
"Got it! Quagmire!"
Merlin cast a tier four earth spell that turned the ground into a wet, muddy mess. The cockatrice, with its massive weight, quickly sunk into the ground and tripped. Taking this as my cue, I pulled back my glaive and prepared a martial art.
"Giant Hunt!"
The tip of the glaive swirled with fierce winds as aura enveloped it. My arm shot forward, and the glaive sped like a missile at the fallen cockatrice. With a boom, the meat and skin that came into contact with my glaive first were pulverized, sending chunks of blood and meat flying in all directions. The glaive continued further, digging a massive hole into the cockatrice's chest. My glaive stopped only after it fully embedded itself in the cockatrice's body, skewering its heart. The cockatrice's head dropped to the ground, its eyes losing focus and glazing over.
I pulled my arm back and the glaive slid out of the now lifeless body without resistance.
[You have gained 180 000 X]
[Your level has increased by 1]
"Level 43, finally. This cockatrice randomly appearing really helped."
I said as I stretched, my strained muscles releasing the tension from all the moving.
I now understood well why only a few people ever managed to reach level 100. The higher your level, the more XP you needed to level up. Problem was, monsters that were judged by the system as lower level than you granted less XP, and if they were overwhelmingly weaker, you got next to no XP at all. According to Sera, the line is drawn at half of your current level. The best way to gain XP was to conquer dungeons, as high-ranking monsters, while not exactly scarce, are far rarer than lower ranked monsters, under most circumstances. There are exceptions such as monster floods where large numbers of monsters of all grades gather, but you would have to be incredibly unlucky to experience a monster flood in your lifetime.
"For sure. I was worried we'd have to keep hunting the treants all day."
Replied Merlin as he stored the cockatrice's corpse in his inventory, leaving behind only a wide pool of mud.
"Where to next?"
While my senses have become unfathomably better compared to when we were summoned to this world, I still couldn't beat Merlin's [Map], and probably never will. Being able to see 50 kilometers around you from a bird's eye view and have large living organisms highlighted as dots is truly cheating.
"I see a leshy not far from us. About 500 meters."
"Alright. Lead the way."
"Roger."
Merlin saluted sarcastically and took off in a direction that would lead us to more prey.
"Anyway, you didn't tell me anything about yesterday. How did your date go?"
Merlin said as he looked back at me. After my date with Syndra, Merlin came back to the inn slightly after midnight. He was drunk quite heavily, but not enough to vomit or pass out. In the first place, if he felt like he'd overdone it, he could just have [Abnormal Status Immunity] sober him up in one fell swoop. Anyway, he crawled into his bed and promptly fell asleep, so we only exchanged a few words at night.
"Well, you didn't ask. As for the date… I guess the date itself went well? I asked her if they wanted to join us, but apparently, they also have some unique circumstances, so she reluctantly refused, which is regrettable. Not much I can do about that, though."
"Unique circumstances, huh. Well, not too surprising. Why else would a high-noble's daughter be working as an adventurer while hiding her identity."
"Exactly my thoughts. Though, I wonder what could possibly be troubling the daughter of the Blackhardts."
"Beats me. But that's not what I'm curious about. Were there any spicy developments?"
Merlin made a crude gesture by making a circle with his thumb and index finger and moving his other index finger in and out of the hole. I rolled my eyes and sighed.
"No, nothing like that happened. I did get a kiss on the cheek though."
"How boring."
Merlin pouted and face forward once more, fiddling with his map. From my point of view, it only looked as if he was poking the air though. He stopped and started casting. A purple magic circle appeared in front of his hand as lightning crackled out of the circle.
"Gyshik!"
The sleeping leshy, camouflaged by clinging to the tree trunk, got hit straight on by the lightning and fell down. The fallen leaves raised under the air pressure the falling leshy's body generated when it hit the ground.
I enveloped my glaive in aura and attacked the leshy while it was still on the ground, dazed and confused. The blade of my glaive seamlessly split the leshy's skull open. The monster never got up from where it had landed.
The familiar ping of a message telling me I received XP resounded in my ears, but I didn't even bother looking at the message anymore in my field of view anymore. Despite being a C-rank monster, it gave us very little XP nowadays, and there were no dungeons close to Thormia worth for us to conquer. It was already pretty late in the afternoon, and we've spent a few hours hunting monsters already. Except for the cockatrice earlier, we barely increased our levels.
It was definitely time to get on the road once more. The date of the departure of the merchant caravan was fast approaching, we had no more time to waste. Our initial goal of achieving C-rank has been accomplished, and Syndra and co. unfortunately couldn't come with us due to their own circumstances.
"I think it's-"
CRASH! BAM! SNAP!
When I was about to say it's time to head back, something crashed into a tree and snapped it. We approached closer, curious as to what had crashed into the tree. A boulder, the size of a small pick-up truck, lay a few meters away from the tree, a deep groove gouged into the ground leading away from the tree. The rock had crashed into the tree and then continued on its path for a while longer, creating the wound in the earth.
"What the hell?"
I stared, confused, at the rock that fell from the sky. Had that thing fell on either of us, it'd be instant game over. Well, maybe not in my case thanks to [Rewind], but I'd still prefer to not experience getting crushed by a rock that fell from the sky.
Sera said, simplifying her inhumanly complicated calculations for us. I could've made this deduction on my own though.
"Do we want to check it out?"
I asked, slugging the glaive over my shoulder.
"Absolutely."
Merlin replied. He was looking at me, but not at me. After so long, I've become able to immediately tell when he was looking at the [Map].
"There's a minotaur fighting with an adventurer party. At least I presume they are adventurers, 1.5 km from our position."
"You mean to tell me that boulder flew well over a kilometer?"
I said, pointing at the truck-sized boulder. My strength has greatly increased since coming to this world, no small thanks to the system. I could probably lift the thing, but throwing it? No way.
"Hah, this has just gotten interesting. Let's go."
I broke into a sprint and Merlin propelled himself forward with truly exquisite control of fire magic, wind magic and barrier magic. He cast a barrier to protect his body, created an explosion to propel himself into the air and used wind magic to glide and control the direction he was moving in. If he wanted to go in a straight line, he could probably overtake me. Unfortunately for him, we were in the thick of the forest right now. Though, my jaw fell the first time he showed me this technique. It was definitely tougher to do than he made it look, that much I knew. No other mage in the world would probably be capable of replicating what he was doing.
We quickly covered the distance between us and the place where the fight was taking place. I hid behind a bush to observe and Merlin silently landed next to me.
Four adventurers were fighting against a minotaur. A massive, four-meter-tall body, bulging with muscles covered under fur, reverse-jointed legs that ended with hooves and two large horns adorning its head, akin to a crown.
There was just one thing that didn't quite the fit the description of a normal minotaur.
"Hey, minotaurs are supposed to have golden-brown fur… right?"
I asked nobody in particular.
"Yep, they sure do."
Came two quick answers.
"Then why the fuck is this bastard purple and why does its presence feel similar to that goblin knight's?!"
I asked nobody in particular again.
The minotaur was, indeed, covered in dark purple fur instead of the golden-brown one would expect. It's presence, too, reeked of the same kind of wrongness as the goblin knight. Seeing as the blood seeping from its small wounds was still red, it definitely hasn't used the absorption skill yet. Though, with how battered and beaten the adventurers seemed to be, I doubt it would even need to use it.
'Wait…'
"Sera, you said all skills require mana to activate, even if they don't actively use the caster's mana?"
"Hmm…"
In that case, if I used 'that' to consume the mana of the skill that lets it absorb the black energy to power up, the skill should fail. It was worth a try, and a perfect test subject just fell in my lap. On another note, the adventurers could really use a hand. Pretty sure the mage girl is about to keel over from mana deprivation and the tanker is one wrong punch away from becoming past tense.
"Let's do our good Samaritan deed for the month and help them out. I also want to test something on the minotaur, so support me as usual, if you would?"
I said and Merlin answered me with a thumbs up without saying a word. Strength surged through my body as he applied buffs on me. I leapt from the thicket and quickly covered my glaive in aura.
The minotaur was a step too late to react to an ambush from a new direction. My blade sliced through the purple fur and dug itself into the monster's flesh, albeit with decent resistance. A ball of flame hit it square in the face, a welcome gift from Merlin. To my surprise, though, the minotaur glared at me with naught but a small singe on its snout.
"This bitch has magic resistance too?!"
Merlin cursed out and I fully sympathized with his grievances. The minotaur threw a punch at me and I blocked with the glaive. However, the minotaur's fist continued on its trajectory to say hello to my face after breaking the glaive's shaft.
I hastily put my left arm in the trajectory of its fist, letting it absorb the force. I was flung backwards with ridiculous momentum, but I managed to keep my gravity center steady. After landing, and leaving skid marks in the ground, I looked at my glaive, broken in half.
"FUCK!"
Rage filled my whole being at the sight of yet another destroyed weapon. How many does this make now? I don't even know anymore. I really need some better equipment, what I'm using can no longer keep up with the monsters on our level.
I unsheathed my sword and covered it in aura as well. I stared daggers at the minotaur. I wanted to grip the sword with both of my hands, but I couldn't properly use my left arm. It didn't seem to be outright broken, though I'd bet every bone in it was chipped or cracked. Unusable, basically.
"Merlin, how high is this fucker's strength?"
I asked, knowing Merlin was right behind me. The minotaur punched me back to from whence I leapt at it, after all.
"No clue. It's giving me the same message as with the goblin knight back then."
Damn. Well, not knowing isn't going to be a game changer.
'If blocking is out of the question, I just simply need to not get hit. Easy enough.'
While the minotaur's strength was on an absurd level, it was slower than me. Much slower. If I fight with the intent of not getting hit, it's entirely doable. Merlin cast a quick heal on me to fix my left arm and I gave it a quick flex and clench, making sure all of my bones and muscles are working as intended.
I was about to leap at the minotaur again when the confused expressions of the four adventurers registered in my field of view.
"Oh, right, you guys are here."
I said, turning to look at them.
"Get out of here and heal up. You're obviously getting ripped a new one by this mutant minotaur. Two of you are about ready to pass on to the other side any second now."
I shooed them away, hoping they'd take the hint that they are nothing but a nuisance. The two still standing adventurers hastily started dragging their ready-to-collapse comrades to a safer location, away from the fighting.
"Huff."
The minotaur didn't seem to like that I wasn't paying it any attention as it huffed.
"Yeah, yeah, sorry. I'll dance with you now."
I activated [Haste] and leapt at the minotaur again. It tried to intercept me with its fist. This time, instead of trying to block, or even attempting to parry something with over twice my strength, I opted for the safer option – lightly dodging to the left.
The minotaur's fist whooshed past me. To my eyes, it felt like the minotaur moved slowly, even though the average person wouldn't have the chance to react to its attack. I slashed at its side, giving it a deep and lengthy wound. Red blood flowed out, creating a darker patch on its already dark purple fur.
"Mhooooooh!"
A thundering roar followed. I ducked under the minotaur's hand that tried to grab me. A gust of wind flew over my head and pushed the minotaur backwards and made it stumble. Because Merlin's magic doesn't do much damage to it due to its high magic resistance, I guess he opted to go for more control-focused spells instead.
"Got you now!"
While the monster was staggered, I used multiple martial arts to shave down its health. Shallow cuts appeared all over its body as my blade danced, but none were deep enough to cause significant injuries. Even with an aura covered sword and martial arts, it was difficult to deal proper damage to it.
The minotaur finally found its balance again and kicked at me with its hoof. I wanted to block with the sword, but the quick image of it bending and then snapping in my mind made me choose evasion instead. I jumped backwards, entirely avoiding the attack.
"Huff!"
Another annoyed huff escaped from its nostrils. It stared at me with pure hatred, as if it was hellbent on grinding me to dust. Its fur was now even darker than when we came here as numerous cuts covered its body underneath, dampening it with its blood.
The minotaur grabbed a nearby tree and uprooted it with a single hand. Black aura started gathering around him and all the grass, trees and bushes suddenly began withering away at an incredible pace.
Seeing this, I smiled to myself and prepared to use the new unique skill I unlocked after passing level 35.
○○○
A few minutes later, I stood over the corpse of the mutant minotaur. The skill worked as I predicted it would, turning the whole fight into a walk in a park. With this ability, fighting these mutant monsters should prove to be a cinch. It wasn't without any drawbacks, however.
"Another one bites the dust, huh?"
I said in resignation as my sword disintegrated into fine particles in my hands. It couldn't withstand the backlash from the skill I just used and crumbled to motes of dust. Yep, this cemented it. When we arrive in Knigh, I'm going to buy myself some high-quality weapons that won't break because a minotaur punched them or because they couldn't withstand the backlash from a unique skill.
"I guess we should take this bastard to Thormia's guild and alert them about this special type of monsters?"
Merlin asked as he pulled out a high-end cleaver he got from who-knows-where and started hacking away at the minotaur's neck. I didn't even have weapons left to clean or sheathe, so I was left with nothing to do.
Or maybe not.
'Right, the adventurers.'
Remembering that there was a group of four that got attacked by the minotaur, I decided to go check on them. It was definitely not because I felt weird just overlooking Merlin happily decapitate a dead minotaur. Not one bit.
Turning around, I looked for where the adventurer party retreated to. I spotted them after a short while and started moving to their location.
"Hey, everyone alive?"
I asked after making my way over to the adventurer party. The mage girl now looked much more alive, though still visibly drowsy. Or perhaps she was the type to always have droopy eyes? Dunno. Most of the tanker's wounds have now been treated and he seemed to be out of the worst of it, though he was still covered in blood and bruises. His bald head somehow didn't have a speck of blood on it, though. How amusing. Sword girl and archer boy, who appears to be an elf judging by the pointy protrusions under his hood, were mostly fine. The sword girl's sword was visibly chipped in most places, but she herself didn't seem to have any injuries. As for the archer boy, he was just out of arrows and was going around collecting them.
"Yes, thanks to your timely intervention, all of us are alive right now. Thank you."
The sword girl was the one to approach me and bowed. I guess she was the party leader.
"I'm Argo, leader of the C-rank party Free Wings. Once again, thank you for saving me and my party."
"Name's Astoshan. The mage's Merlin. We're both C-rank."
Argo, the mage girl and the archer boy all looked at me in confusion. Can't say I'm surprised. Imagine getting your ass whooped by a mutant minotaur as a C-rank party, only to be rescued by two very obviously powerful individuals who claim they are the same rank as you.
"We registered not that long ago, so our contributions haven't yet caught up with our actual rank."
I explained that me and Merlin didn't have time to quite increase our rank properly just yet. They seemed to understand and left our imbalance of power to our rank be.
"Soo- what now?"
Asked Argo sheepishly, seemingly unsure of how to carry on with the conversation. I honestly didn't blame her. Her party was disgustingly close to getting wiped. If that was the first time this has happened, I can understand she is in slight shock. And it helps me, too. I'm not one to enjoy small talk.
"We go back to Thormia, report the appearance of a mutant minotaur to the guild and get paid."
I said as I cast a quick glance at the tanker, light reflecting from his bald head with surprising efficiency.
'How does one's skin even become this damn reflective? Is it some kind of skill?'
I mused internally, though, I didn't linger on it for long. Why, you ask? Well, that's because the mage girl was eyeing me with unbridled curiosity. I could feel her gaze try to burrow deep into my very soul. Getting ever so slightly uncomfortable, I spoke up.
"Something the matter?"
"Yes. How did you do that?"
She said undeterred. I knew exactly what she was getting at, but there was no way I was going to expose my trump card so easily. The skill I used is on par with [Rewind] with how broken it is.
"That's a secret. And even if I told you, you wouldn't be able to learn it."
I told her, hoping she'd leave it at that, though, her steady and focused gaze told me she'd try every method in her book to pry how I managed to stop a skill out of me.
"Doesn't matter, I might come up with an imitation or something similar. I just need to know how you did that. If you tell me, I'll let you use me whenever you want. Actually, I'll even become your slave as long as you let me work on imitating what you di- Ouch!"
The mage girl went off on a rather wild tangent but was interrupted by Argo smacking her over the head with a fist. The mage girl curled into a ball and caressed the place where Argo hit her while letting out silent whimpers, all the while Argo stood over her with veins visibly bulging on her forehead.
"M. I. N. A. I believe we've already had a talk about you offering yourself as a slave or sex toy to every random person with an interesting unique skill you come across and how you're going to stop doing that, have we not?"
The mage girl, Mina didn't say anything but nodded her head and tried to curl into a ball even further.
"So, do tell, why are you doing the thing you promised to stop doing? AGAIN?"
Argo then proceeded to start hurling insults at Mina. She also occasionally kicked Mina's foot, thigh or butt, though I never saw any real reaction of pain from Mina, so Argo was probably holding back most of her strength and was only showing her disappointment.
Merlin interrupted the bullying of Mina, holding a blood-dripping ox head by the horns like some grand trophy. Argo stopped kicking the curled-up Mina after Merlin's arrival and thanked him for saving them, too. Shortly after, the baldy woke up after he had passed out from exhaustion and blood loss. He's got to have some innate regeneration skill, because a normal human would've been out for at least half a day after that. This dude needed just a little under half an hour. Though his wounds were mostly healed, there isn't much we could do about his mental fatigue after getting pummeled a hair's breath away from death, and the fatigue from losing so much damn blood.
I was glad I wouldn't have to carry the baldy, whose name was I'Rhan as I have come to learn, which is a cool as fuck name in my opinion. As a sidenote, we learned that the definitely-not-elf's name is Treyvin. Not that it matters much, I doubt we'll ever see them again after we leave tomorrow, though Argo seemed to be a chatterbox as she just wouldn't stop talking.
I and Merlin waited for Free Wings to pack their stuff and we hiked back to Thormia. The hike back was remarkably uneventful and before long, we found ourselves in Thormia's adventurer guild. We reported the appearance of the mutant minotaur, though we weren't dragged off to meet the guildmaster this time around. It seems the appearances of these monsters are no longer isolated incidents, and reports of other people running into them have been slowly but steadily growing. Along with reports of people losing their lives to these monsters, but that's an everyday occurrence in this world.
We received our contribution for reporting the incident, said goodbye to the Free Wings and parted our ways. Just as we were about to turn and to leave the guild, the main guild doors were flung open by a petite girl with blonde hair.
"Astoshan! Merlin! Are you in here?!"
Her voice was sore and sounded like she was on the verge of crying. Her eyes scanned the room with unconcealed anxiety, moving from person to person with great speed, searching for someone. Her clothes and armor were roughed up and she was bleeding from multiple cuts all around her body. Hell, there was an arrow sticking out of her left shoulder. I hurriedly approached her, Merlin in tow following closely behind me.
"Testa! What's wrong?"
Merlin rushed up to her while asking and quickly cast healing magic on her. Relief flashed over her face when she spotted us, but her expression quickly reverted to panic and anxiety. The cuts quickly closed and color returned to her as Merlin's spells worked their magic, though she didn't get any better on the mental side of things.
"What happened? Why are you all bloodied?"
I asked calmly, though a lump of anxiety started formed in my throat. Syndra and Sabrina were nowhere to be seen. I hoped whatever scenario my paranoid mind managed to come up with wouldn't turn out to be real, though I knew better than to expect a good outcome.
Testa took a few breaths to calm herself down. As she was about to speak, I spotted an object moving towards her at high speeds. I moved on instinct and shoved Testa to the side while I relied on Sera to calculate the perfect moment to move my arm and catch the object that was heading for Testa. My arm moved according to Sera's predictions and I safely caught an arrow with my ridiculously high strength and agility stats. Merlin quickly materialized his bow and an arrow from his inventory in response and took aim in the direction where the arrow aimed at Testa came from. He let loose the arrow and… missed. I suddenly couldn't sense the attacker, and Merlin looked confused as well. It was as if the attacker vanished from the world.
I eyed the rooftops from whence the arrow came a few moments longer, but after nothing happened for a while, I closed the doors behind me and saw that the whole guild was now abuzz with movement. Every adventurer was now alert and ready to jump into a fight at any moment. I smiled softly at the readiness of the entire guild to protect their own, though there'd be no battle this time.
"The attacker is gone; I think we should be fine for the time being."
I said and looked over at Testa as everyone at the guild went back to minding their own business. Testa's eyes were wide as she held a hint of darkness in them. She stared at the arrow I held in my hand with great fury... and fear.
"So, what the hell happened? How'd you get like this?"
Asked Merlin, with genuine worry for once, after making sure all her surface wounds had been treated. Testa looked around and was silent for a moment before she opened her mouth and looked at me and Merlin and spoke up.
"I think we should find a private place to talk first."
○○○
Syndra woke up this morning fully energized. She thought back to the pleasant evening she spent with Astoshan, and held close the melancholy she felt at the knowledge they'd likely never have the chance to explore what could be. She herself didn't understand how it was possible for two souls to click this easily, but one doesn't need to understand something to know it happened. She knew she will miss him greatly once he leaves Thormia, but she decided to use even this sadness as strength in her quest to help her family and free herself of the Sinclairs, Zika and his persistent advances especially.
I and Sabrina woke up a bit after her with slight hangovers, having been drunk under the table by Merlin. Syndra chuckled softly and had to give Merlin props. Overdrinking both Sabrina and me is a feat not many can claim to be capable of, and I was forced to agree with her. I never expected for Merlin to still be fine after so many beers that even I started passing out. Sabrina cast a quick anti-hangover spell on me and herself and we left the inn.
Our party paid a quick visit to the adventurer guild before picking up a quest and we headed out. It was a simple tiny goblin camp extermination, but the pay was surprisingly good for the relatively easy task. We approached a receptionist we hadn't seen here before, so she was most likely new. She was a skinny woman with otherwise nice features, grey eyes and grey hair. We asked her about the request and she told us it was because the people that commissioned the request misjudged the number of goblins and thus thought the quest would be of higher difficulty than it actually was. The new receptionist also explained that the guild always confirmed the authenticity and difficulty of the quests they put up, so neither of us doubted it'd be a quick money-making venture, even if we did find it somewhat unusual.
Walking through the forest, we chatted excitedly about the events of our respective evenings, though Syndra was far more embarrassed to talk about it than me or Sabrina.
"Ooh? So you gave him a kiss, hmm?"
"Just on the cheek!"
Said Sabrina teasingly, poking Syndra with her elbow. Syndra pouted but ignored her friend's light jabs into her side. I was mostly quiet as usual, though I grinned the whole way as Syndra recounted her date. Nothing too spicy happened, at least as far as Syndra told us. The spiciest event was the kiss Syndra gave on Astoshan's cheek, and that wasn't much to talk about. Though, in a group full of girls that have no romantic experience with the opposite gender, even such an entry level event holds quite a lot of significance.
"Alright, alright, that's enough. You've teased me enough Sabrina. I'll want to go dig myself a hole if you continue, so please stop."
Syndra pulled her robe over her head and tried to hide within the confines of the darkness it provided.
"Fine, fine. Don't want you to overload while on a quest."
Sabrina reluctantly relented her teasing with a sigh. Syndra checked the map we were provided and informed us that the goblin camp should be in view soon enough. All of us quickly heightened our alertness and stopped talking. An arrangement of shoddy huts quickly came into view with corpses, animal and human alike, infested by maggots and covered by flies, lay in the center of the small camp thrown onto a big pile. Skulls pierced on spikes and other skeleton parts and bones were sporadically spread around the camp.
But not a single goblin was to be seen. The whole camp was covered in blood from an obvious battle, but there were no bodies left, as if they got up and walked away. Syndra suddenly stopped moving and listened to her surroundings intently.
"Run! We walked into a trap!"
She shouted and turned around just in time to swat down a dagger with her sword. I sensed movement behind me and slashed in an arc as I turned around. The person that was behind me, covered in pitch black robes that seemed to stick to their body like bandages, was forced to jump back to avoid my sword. Only grey eyes peeked at me from between the black bandages.
"Nice reflexes."
The person commented, probably a woman judging by the feminine voice and slim limbs. I tensed up straight away. I knew who these people were, who they worked for and why we were their targets. Their attire was unmistakable.
"Netherwalkers! Filthy Sinclair hounds."
Said Syndra with venom on her tongue. I shared her sentiments, as the Netherwalkers were no warriors, but assassins. Dirty, underhanded and without conscience. The only thing that mattered to them was to succeed in the mission their masters gave them, no matter how underhandedly they achieve their success.
Sabrina quickly cast some light buff spells on me and Syndra as we got into formation, though we all knew it'd be of no use. All around us, from behind trees, from within the huts, from the shadows, Netherwalkers started making their appearance. Their eyes were hidden behind the black bandages-cum-robes that covered their entire body, but I could feel their gazes, scanning my every movement. It seemed only the woman that attacked me had her eyes uncovered, probably their leader. They were stalking us, like predators stalk their prey.
"Lay down your weapon and come with us, Young Lady of the Blackhardts, and we will kill your friends swiftly and painlessly. We'd prefer to hand you to our Lord undamaged by battle."
The person I swung my sword at previously demanded. None of us quite liked her offer, though.
"Yeah, no."
"Fuck that."
"I'd rather not."
Syndra, Sabrina and I retorted in unison. In response, the air around the Netherwalkers changed. It felt as though death itself came to pay us a visit. I could sense the hairs on my body rise and cold sweat trickled down my neck. We might have stood a chance in a 3v6, though barely, but our current situation was that of a 3v9, and who knows if there are more hiding among the trees and the shadows.
"That's a shame."
The same person spoke again, the derision and mockery clear in her voice. She was glad we decided to resist. She was glad we decided to fight. She was glad this wouldn't be a simple, clean mission.
Swish!
Without a warning, one of the Netherwalkers to our right threw a dagger at Syndra. She lithely evaded the dagger by slightly leaning backwards. The dagger lodged itself into a tree, the bark quickly turning a sickly dark grey by the Netherwalker's signature poison, Nether's Embrace. Even coming into physical contact with this poison could cause irreparable necrosis on affected tissue, horrific pain and, should the person coming into contact with Nether's Embrace survive, if their MAG stat was high enough, they could be afflicted with mana atrophy. A nasty affliction that burns your MAG stat over time, possibly even bringing it down to 0.
"[Etar]!"
A sword the same color as Syndra's mana materialized in her free left hand. Blue sparks of mana danced around the newly formed blade that represented Syndra's very core. A unique skill that symbolized those who were destined to inherit the Blackhardt will, a soulbound sword on par with the world's greatest masterpieces. While the sword itself was nigh unbreakable and incredibly sharp, the unique skill's true strength lay elsewhere, though. As long as one is holding Etar, the sword gives them access to a powerful active skill.
"[Limit Break]! [Haste]!"
Syndra doesn't have to shout out the names of these skills, but she does it anyway. It can help demoralize the enemy if they have knowledge of this skill and they know what it does. Its effects are, after all, ridiculous.
"Spread out! Don't cluster up together, wait for the skill's duration to end! Don't try to fight her head one while her [Limit Break] is active!"
The leader of the Netherwalker squad called out and her subordinates didn't waste any time in enlarging the circle. Though, one of the Netherwalkers wasn't quite fast enough.
Syndra vanished from the spot she was standing on and reappeared in front of the slower Netherwalker, who now sported a new fresh wound that went down from his left shoulder to his right pelvic bone. In that short moment, Syndra slashed at him with her right sword. His guts spilled out and blood gushed out of his wound. He'd die within seconds, but that wasn't enough for Syndra. She skewered the Netherwalker with Etar in her left hand right through the heart. The Netherwalker died on his feet, held up only by the sword piercing his heart. Syndra pulled out her blade and turned to face her next target as the Netherwalker lifelessly crumpled to the ground.
'Instant 33% increase to all your stats from [Limit Break] is ludicrous indeed. And that she's ambidextrous and can dual-wield swords like it's nothing makes her even more threatening as an opponent.'
Though she clearly held contempt for the people in front of her, her mind remained calm as a serene lake, unclouded and clear, her movements calculated and precise. A true Sword Saint through and through.
I didn't want to just stand around and be outdone one-sidedly. I'm not as fast as Syndra, or have range like Sabrina has with her magic, but I can beat both in strength, even when Syndra has [Limit Break] active. [Gluttony], a skill tied to one of my titles, stores excess food I eat as energy I can use to boost my STR stat temporarily.
I ran over to a Netherwalker closest to me. Their leader stood atop a branch, overlooking the battle far away from me now. My main job right now was to protect Sabrina, who was buffing me and Syndra while also bombarding the Netherwalkers with spells.
While Nether's Embrace is incredibly dangerous to mages, magic was ironically the Netherwalkers' biggest weakness. Because they worked with said poison almost daily, every Netherwalker had to go through training to be able to tolerate it. As a result, all Netherwalkers had grey, cracked skin and they couldn't use magic. As long as you keep them away from your mage, they won't have a way to counter that mage.
The Netherwalker I ran up to tried blocking my sword with his daggers, but thanks to my boosted strength by [Gluttony], the daggers shatter under the force of my swing and my sword lodged itself in his right shoulder, slicing him open down to the chest. I pulled out my sword and saw as two Netherwalkers were closing in on Sabrina. She was managing to fend them off for now with her magic, but she wouldn't be able to keep that up for long.
One of the Netherwalkers got hit straight to the face with Sabrina's Fireball after they failed to accurately read the terrain they were on. The Netherwalker's already necrosis corroded skin burned away and they lost their life a few moments later, dropping onto the forest floor unceremoniously.
I rushed up to the other one and swung my sword horizontally. The Netherwalker, learning from the mistakes of his comrade, opted to duck under my sword and slashed at me with his poison laced kukri. I avoided the blade by a hair's breadth by sidestepping to my right, where the kukri couldn't reach me.
The Netherwalker threw throwing knives at me with his free hand. I raised my armored forearms in front of my face and trusted the armor to do its job in protecting me from these poisoned projectiles. From behind me, a dark purple projectile flew at the Netherwalker. He noticed the Darkness Arrow too late and hastily tried to avoid the spell. This still earned him a nice deep cut on his left shoulder and he lost his balance. I took advantage of his loss of balance and planted my fist right between his ribs. My punch blew the Netherwalker away and he lay where he landed, motionless. The Netherwalkers already have fragile bodies because of the effects the poison has had on them. Couple that with the power of my [Gluttony] empowered punch and I wouldn't put it out of the realm of possibilities that his heart ruptured under the force of my punch.
Syndra managed to eliminate another two Netherwalkers in that short period of time. We were still outnumbered in a 3v4, but the odds were much better than a few moments ago when the Netherwalkers made their presence known. The remaining three and their leader were definitely stronger than the five we dispatched up until now, though I felt something wasn't right. I'm not very smart compared to Syndra and Sabrina, but I pride myself on having keen intuition, and something felt very wrong here.
Why would Sinclair's best assassins reveal themselves like this? Why would they attack Syndra with nothing but rubble when they know how powerful she is, especially when she summons [Etar] and uses [Limit Break]? Why were the five Netherwalkers we already got rid off so weak?
"Syndra, something's wrong."
I said, tightening the grip around the hilt of my sword subconsciously. I couldn't figure out what exactly was wrong, but I just knew I wasn't seeing the full picture.
"Yeah, I think so too. This is too strange."
Replied Syndra as she cautiously made her way over to us. The Netherwalker leader remained perched on top of that branch of hers while the remaining three elite Netherwalkers circled around us, as if they were waiting for something.
"Ah, fuck!"
Exclaimed Sabrina suddenly, shock and frustration in her voice.
"They are stalling for time! Their unit isn't meant to take us down, they are meant to keep us here until the unit actually tasked with taking you to that bastard comes!"
At her explanation, the puzzle seemed to come together by itself. If the Netherwalkers were only tasked with holding us back, it'd explain why they came with mostly defective Netherwalkers and they weren't actively trying to kills us.
Suddenly, an arrow flew from among the foliage of the bushes and trees straight at me.
"Watch out!"
Sabrina yelled and pushed me out of the way. The arrow that would have hit me square in the neck, hit Sabrina in her shoulder instead.
"Ack!"
"Sabrina!"
In a moment of confusion, panic, anger and helplessness, I screamed my friend's name. I wanted to rush to her, but a sudden bright flash of light froze all the muscles in my body.
[You have been inflicted with the abnormal status 'Stun']
'What the- I can't move!'
From the corner of my vision, I saw multiple arrows strike Syndra in her legs and she collapsed to the ground. I couldn't speak, let alone turn my head from the effects of the stun. All I could do was helplessly watch as one of my dear friends bled from an arrow wound she took for me while the person I swore to protect and who was like a sister to me all my life lay on the ground with multiple arrows sticking out of her legs.
A dozen knights donning familiar armor now surrounded us, their weapons unsheathed and crossbows drawn, ready to spill more blood at any moment. A middle-aged knight with a blue cape walked out. He had medium long black hair, a sharp, piercing gaze and a steady gait. I immediately recognized this person. How could I not? He has trained me in the sword since I could hold one. My father's older brother and the captain of the Blackhardt Knight Order, Rozes Pendragon, my uncle.
I half expected it, but coming to reality with the fact that my own uncle betrayed me, Lady Syndra, and the Blackhardt family hurt me a lot more than I thought it would. For a few seconds, my mind simply blanked out, unsure of what to do. Unsure if there even was something I could do. I couldn't move a single muscle, and the person who's attacking us is my uncle, the person who raised me and took care of me after my parent's early passing in a monster flood. Would I be able to raise my sword at him with the intent to kill?
"It would have been easier if you simply listened to Irasa, Young Lady."
"That's First Walker Irasa to you, Captain Rozes."
The leader of the Netherwalkers rebuked my uncle from atop her branch, which only elicited a chuckle from him. He looked at Syndra, then Sabrina and then finally at me. The parental love and care he had in his gaze when I was younger was gone, replaced by something cold and inhuman. I wasn't even sure if I was truly staring into my uncle's eyes.
"Well, my darling niece, it appears you have gotten yourself into quite the predicament."
He came closer and looked over at Sabrina, who was laying on the ground with an arrow in her shoulder, and then at me. His smile sent chills down to my bones and a foreboding premonition came over me. Sabrina was silently uttering something under her breath, so silently that I couldn't hear her despite her laying right under my feet. The only reason I knew she was saying something was because I could see her lips moving ever so slightly even through the stun.
He positioned his sword right above Sabrina's abdomen and pushed his sword down. The blade sunk into her body with little resistance and red blood flowed from Sabrina's wound. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't find my voice. I wanted to jump at him and tear him apart, but my muscles weren't listening to me. I wanted to do anything to stop what I was seeing, but there was nothing I could do. Tears clouded my vision, yet I couldn't even cry properly from the effects of the stun.
'This is it. We've been had.'
I thought to myself, and as the last remnants of resistance started leaving my body, a swirl of Sabrina's yellow mana entered me and I could feel my muscles return under my control again. I looked into Sabrina's eyes, her firm will to help me live staring back at me.
[Under the effects of 'Hekate's Gaze', you are immune to abnormal status effects for the next 10 minutes]
[Abnormal status 'Stun' has been lifted]
"Find those two."
She whispered, betting on a miniscule chance. But, for some reason, I felt that if I did ask those two for help, they would surely come our rescue. I nodded at her.
If the strength of 'those two' is anything to go by, they should be able to at least help me save Syndra from Zika's clutches. It may be too late to save Sabrina, but I will not squander the opportunity she has given me.
My uncle seemed to have realized Sabrina had done something, but before he could turn his head to me, I've already jumped over the encirclement by adding a good half of the saved-up energy from [Gluttony] to my legs. I am not inhumanly fast like Astoshan or Syndra with [Limit Break], but I am powerful and still faster than most people, thanks to my [Legendary] class. I'm only slow in comparison to speed monsters like those two. As long as I avoid getting hit by daggers with Nether's Embrace, I should be able to push everyone off me.
"Shit! Catch her! Actually, just kill her!"
My uncle screamed from behind me as the Netherwalkers broke off in pursuit after me. My armor was strong enough to not get pierced by daggers thrown by assassins whose main stats were agility and dexterity, but I still had to watch out for the gaps in my armor.
Some of the knights also followed, though they were nowhere as fast as the Netherwalkers. I ran as fast as my legs would let me, occasionally enhancing my legs with energy from [Gluttony] to give me more power to make longer steps.
The knights shot arrows at me with their crossbows, which was a problem. A dagger thrown by an assassin with low STR wasn't very dangerous to my armor, but arrows shot by crossbows were an entirely different cup of tea. They were both faster and had better piercing power, and if they dipped them in poison that'd be almost certain game over. Though, I did have some breathing room for another 10 minutes or so, thanks to whatever Sabrina cast on me.
As I ran in a mad daze, a few stray arrows managed to scratch me on occasion, and one lucky shot found its way to my left shoulder. The Netherwalkers threw daggers at me as well, but my armor shrugged off their attacks.
I ran as fast as my legs would let me, I ran through the forest like mad, jumping over roots and shrubs with surprising accuracy and precision. The knights were too far behind me now, many of them stopped trying to give chase entirely. Only the Netherwalkers were on my heel now.
I sensed one of the Netherwalkers, the fastest one of the three that followed me, attempt to tackle me to the ground. I jumped up, spun around my axis and sliced through him mid-air. His eyes showed surprise as his body was bisected in two. Only two pursuers now remained.
More running. I must have been running for a while now, the abnormal status immunity from Sabrina's spell or whatever she cast on me vanished a while ago. From among the trees I could now make out the familiar grey stone wall that surrounded Thormia. I could feel the anxiousness of the Netherwalkers behind me rise with every step I took, their dagger throws increasing in frequency as time went on.
'Seriously, how many daggers is that now? I've stopped counting after 60.'
Finally, after what felt like hours but was probably only half an hour, I escaped the boundary of the forest. The Netherwalkers also stopped their pursuit. At the gate, I was lucky enough to run into a guard I've seen before. After telling him I urgently had to go to the guild, he let me pass easily. He only needed to take a look at my current state to understand I was in a desperate hurry. I quickly found my way to the guild and I swung the main doors open. I prayed that the people I was hoping to find were here, otherwise I'd have to either wait in the guild for them or look for them at the inn, but I wasn't sure if I could keep myself awake for all that time.
"Astoshan! Merlin! Are you in here?"
I yelled as loud as my lungs would let me. I could feel tears forming at the edge of my eyes as I imagined that they're somewhere out on a quest and won't be back for a good while or that they'd left Thormia already. I looked over the hall in anxiety, begging the Gods that I'd find them amongst the crowd.
"Testa! What's wrong?"
Merlin's voice broke me out of my frantic looking around and relief washed over me as I saw him and Astoshan quickly make their way towards me. Merlin's healing magic quickly closed all of the scratches the stray arrows gave me. The relief didn't last long, though, as I thought back to the image of Syndra whose legs have been turned into a pincushion by arrows to stop her from escaping in case the stun didn't work on her and Sabrina, who had a sword driven into her abdomen by my very own uncle.
"What happened? Why are you all bloodied?"
Asked Astoshan, and I could see the worry and anxiety cloud his face, most likely the same way it was clouding mine. I wanted to tell him right away, but now that I could finally catch my breath and not worry about getting pierced by an arrow from behind, I couldn't find my voice. I took a few deep breaths to collect myself and prepare what I wanted to say. Just as I was about to speak, Astoshan shoved me to the side with monstrous speed and strength I had no chance to compete with.
He caught an arrow that would have landed in the back of my head had he not reacted. Merlin quickly shot back at whoever shot the arrow, but there was nobody there. They both looked confused for a moment, but they didn't dare take their eyes and senses off the place where the arrow came from for a while longer.
"The attacker is gone; I think we should be fine for the time being."
Said Astoshan after he closed the doors behind him. My eyes were drawn to the arrow he held in his hand, laced in a familiar greyish-black poison.
"So, what the hell happened? How'd you get like this?"
Asked Merlin, softer than I had ever heard him speak before. I looked around and noticed that there were too many stares discreetly pointed our way, and the guild was more silent than usual, so people were trying to listen to whatever I was about to say.
"I think we should find a private place to talk first."
I replied. I took a few steps to go ask a receptionist if we could borrow one of their private rooms for a moment, but I felt lightheaded all of a sudden and my consciousness started to slip.
"Testa!"
Merlin shouted and caught me before I could fall to the ground. I wanted to thank him, but I couldn't keep myself awake any longer. Everything went black.