Chapter 5 - Resolve

"WHY AM I HERE!?"

Cordelia shouted at the top of her lungs, but seeing the blue protective barrier wearing off, she went quiet.

'If this is really what I think it is, then...'

Her mind raced with various possibilities but one thing she had ascertained from the memories and current events,

'I need to survive!'

Not even having time to realize that she could fully control her body and celebrate it, she became wary of her surroundings.

Looking left and right to make sure she was alone in her spot, she hurriedly walked away with the minimum amount of noise that she could.

'I am a hundred percent sure my shouting would bring their attention to me which isn't good...'

Cordelia remembered the first lesson about the world of Gliesor.

[Make sure you stay alert and make as little noise as possible]

'Tsk, damn restrictions,' she cursed the fact that one couldn't inform others about the world of Gliesor without a limit to people who hadn't been here.

"Wait!? Doesn't that mean I am at an absolute advantage?" She mumbled in a low voice despite her excitement.

'But I don't know the ending... Anyways, the world was destined for doom, what could have changed? Maybe I should get the good stuff and become strong?'

She was the most loyal reader, reading from the day the book was launched till its ending.

'I know most of the stuff like the back of my hand. I don't even know how many times I re-read this book...'

A small smile formed on her face but it faltered soon after. 'That is all nice and dandy. But, what about Mom? Caleb? Serena?'

Her expression saddened as she recalled the only three people close to her, her mother, her younger brother and his fiancé.

Rustle

In her melancholic mood, she forgot to pay attention to her surroundings and continued to walk in a totally random direction, unaware of the looming threat.

Rustle

The sound of small bushes rustling could be heard if one paid close attention but Cordelia, drowning in a sea of memories, failed to notice anything unusual.

Ki-eek

A weird nasal sound brought Cordelia out of her melancholic state, yet her body froze as soon as her eyes caught the form of a hideous green creature.

'A goblin!'

Just like any other fantasy setting, this world had monsters. Both intelligent and non-intelligent. A goblin naturally fell under the latter category.

"Ahhhhhhh"

A primal roar of pain erupted from Cordelia's mouth as the hideous creature pushed a crude iron dagger into her form.

The dagger struck her lower back, just above her hips because of the goblin's small height and their tendency to sneak attack from behind.

Her eyes became teary due to the pain but her entire countenance froze in fear when her eyes fell on the goblin.

'Goblins play with their prey and have insane amounts of libido, regardless of their prey's gender.'

She gulped nervously as she remembered the details about goblins' nature written in the book.

She tried to move, to run away, to escape but it was all for naught as her feet felt wobbly causing her to stumble and fall with her back to the goblin.

Kii-eek

Kekeke

With a nasty laughter, the goblin approached her with its hands in motion to tear apart her worn out clothes.

Cordelia's form trembled from fear but it was different from her internal thoughts.

'What is wrong with this darned body!?'

'Move it!!'

'They are the weakest!'

'I can kill it!

'Just move! Fuck it!'

She barely crawled away from the goblin, her eyes teary yet cold eyes met its lustful ones as she kept trying to back away and the goblin advanced slowly while laughing.

'It is mocking me! It dares!'

'Shit! If only this body worked properly, I'd rip it apart!'

Her eyes went red from the intense glare she shot the goblin despite her body's stiff form, causing it to flinch before it lunged at her, aiming to tear off her clothes.

At the last moment when only a few centimeters separated her form and the goblin, Cordelia closed her rage-filled eyes, resigning to her shitty fate.

Fwoosh

But just then, as if a divine miracle had occurred, a bullet whizzed past, cutting through the air and struck the goblin squarely in the head, blasting its head off.

Puchak

Splash

Cordelia flinched as she felt a viscous liquid with a metallic scent fall over her face instead of its hands that were about to rip her clothes.

She wouldn't have been surprised if it was its spit as it was drooling at her body yet the metallic scent told another tale entirely.

As she opened her eyes slowly, her countenance froze at the sight of the dead goblin. She hurriedly distanced herself from it and started to retch in repulsion.

Uwack

Retch

A few meters away from her disgraceful form, a man with sharp red eyes and black hair reflected by the sunlight of the two suns jumped from a tree.

Tch

"They can't even see blood and come here," grumbled the man in annoyance and clicked his tongue again before he heard the annoying sound of the blue window again.

Ding!

[Individual Mission: Save 10 Humans]

[Mission Progress: 1/10]

[Mission Reward: 100 Points]

[Failure Penalty: Final score will be half of your total points]

[Tip: Points from killing monsters to save humans will be tripled during the duration of the mission]

Tch

'If not for this, why would I even bother to save a woman?'

Unaware that she had made an unfavorable expression on a man who left after saving her, Cordelia kept retching and spitting her bile from her empty stomach as she had had no food inside her stomach for it to come out.

If only she had seen the man who just saved her, she would've stopped herself from showing such a sight as she wished to live longer.

Unfortunately, her repulse for the gory scene that she just couldn't digest was far higher than she thought.

"Ugh, just how do other transmigrators feel nothing when even committing massacres but I can't even see this done to a monster."

Despite her grumbling, it wasn't that she had gone crazy and retched for hours. Rather, it was just for a minute.

Well, it was not like her empty stomach contained any semblance of food for it to throw out.

Argh

Gritting her teeth, she took out the crude iron dagger from her back.

Spurt

Blood spurted out from her open wound while her eyes leaked tears of pain.

Biting her dry bluish lips, she put the cloth she tore apart from the hem of her dress that now reached just below her knees.

Her entire back was drenched in blood yet without much choice she stood up and started to walk away, aggravating her still open wound with every step.

Argh

Huff

Huff

'I need to hurry.'

'I don't know who helped me or why but I'll die if I stay here any longer'

After walking what she assumed was a safe distance away, leaving behind a bloody trail in her wake, she stopped to take a respite, leaning against a tree to steady her breathing.

Huff

Huff

"I just noticed but, wasn't I a cripple?"

"Is this the magical healing for the examinees to give them a fair chance to survive?"

"It makes sense, given how my 'sister' wanted me dead when she talked about the summoning."

"Lily, was it?"

Her voice and gaze turned chilly at her last words.

Ahhh

Suddenly, Cordelia clenched her chest as she felt a searing pang of pain in her heart.

"Don't worry...haah...I will make sure to take revenge for you, Cordelia..."

She mumbled to herself, or rather, to the original Cordelia.

This was her resolve.

Unknowingly, making her resolve, she gained control over her body as the two accepted each other and became one.