Ilya quickly packed up her camp into her rucksack and she was ready to go. Surprisingly, for a high-level mage, she didn't have any kind of inventory like Alina, but still, maybe there was another factor that could be counted on. Together, they tracked the forest with Alina leading the way helped by her watch.
"Must be convenient being a vampire, isn't it? Blood Inventory, Darkvision, and all," Ilya mused.
Thinking about it, it was a fair point. Well, besides the fact that she was already close to dying twice after getting this power and being introduced to this world without any introduction. All in all, she wanted to meet Ingrid, first and foremost.
"I believe so, Ingrid, may I ask something?" Alina glanced at her watch, realizing she had overlooked some details earlier. The digital display showed 21:00 PM. "How long is a day?"
However, upon closer inspection of the analog section, Alina discerned not only the standard twelve-hour markings but also an additional twenty-four sub-dials. This peculiar arrangement implied a day in this world spanned 72 hours, divided into two 36-hour cycles. There were no numbers on it, so it took quite a time for her to realize that.
"72 hours. What kind of question is that?" Ilya answered, but she was perplexed by the obliviousness. "Are you trying to throw a joke or something?"
"Kinda," Alina shrugged it off.
Thinking about it, if one day was 72 hours, then 21:00 PM was as same as 7:00 PM. Well, that might be how it worked, at least, according to her perception. That means that the equivalent of 6:00 AM here was probably at 18:00 AM. So, the sun would rise again in... 33 hours? That was more than a day.
Still, it might be only an illusion. However, pulling her iPhone from the Blood Inventory, it already showed that it was 21:00 PM as well. Ingrid might be tinkering with it, or there was some unknown software update to it. Still, why did the phone turn into a blood version of it, unlike the rucksack and other things?
As they strolled along the road, Alina couldn't help but admire the rifle Ilya held. An elf with a bow was nothing unusual, but an elf wielding a rifle, especially a magical laser rifle, was certainly out of the ordinary.
"About that rifle," Alina broke the silence, nodding towards the weapon, "Mind if I ask how it works? It's not something I'm familiar with."
"It's kind of like a wand, or a staff, or even a grimoire, depending on who you ask. For me, it's akin to an enchanted bow, but with my proficiency in magical spells, I can also infuse it with my own magical energy," Ilya explained, casting a glance at her rifle.
"Like what?" Alina inquired.
"For instance, if you wanted a barrage of explosive bullets, I could make that happen. Or perhaps a volley of acid bullets, I could manage that too. The only limit is my mana, really," Ilya replied.
"If firearms exist, why do people still rely on melee weapons?" Alina questioned once more.
"And you say that right after you've just dispatched a wolf automaton with your sword?" Ilya remarked wryly.
Reflecting on it, she remembered how the 9mm bullet had merely glanced off the wolf's armor, while her blood magic had somehow found its mark. It seemed plausible that the average person in this world had some level of resistance to bullets. Plus, her sword weighed over ten kilograms, further emphasizing her point.
"The variety in weaponry reflects the diverse talents and the chaotic nature of our world," Ilya elaborated. "Some prefer the intimacy of ranged melee combat, while others, like myself, find a blend of modern magical weaponry more fitting."
Ranged melee combat... Thinking about it, I only hit the wolf with 'true melee' once, didn't I? All I did was spam the hell out of Bloody Swing in the hope of killing that thing. If every weapon was ranged, it made some sense, after all.
After the forest, they finally arrived at some sort of gravel road. The road would fit two large cars, or a carriage if we talked about this world. Then again, the elf right next to her was also occasionally looking at her smartphone.
Continuing the walk, the two remained vigilant of their surrounding. Alina's mood was rather bright at this point, particularly because it seemed that she wouldn't miss too many modern comforts at once. She still had her smartphone, and the elf beside her held something that didn't exist yet in her world.
At a distance, she saw a bunch of little green figures walking in her direction. Using her improved vision, she immediately thought those figures were goblins. They had green skin, long ears, and were kinda disfigured.
As the group walked toward Alina, all of a sudden, six men broke out of the bush. Two of the men suddenly stopped the group of goblins. They were sprawly-looking men, wearing leather armor and sporting melee and ranged weapons. One was holding a one-handed sword while the one carried a humongous crossbow.
Their armor looked crude, and the cloak the mage wore wasn't any good either, tattered with many holes. Still, it didn't mean they weren't a dangerous threat.
[Mage Berserker - Lvl.5]
[Ranged Fighter Lvl.9]
"Hey, do you see them?" Alina asked.
"See who?" Ilya replied, her eyes couldn't see as far as Alina could see.
"There," Alina whispered, pointing her finger in the direction of the goblin.
"Girl, I don't have Darkvision, what are you seeing?" Ilya readied her magical rifle, and the tip of it suddenly turned into a dim yellow color from the previous rainbow color. She then aimed it at her front, behind, left, and right.
All of a sudden, they heard a scream from the same direction. One of the goblin women was stabbed by the bandit, and before that, another three more were killed with a single spell from the berserker. Alina could only watch in horror while Ilya only then managed to notice what happened.
The slaughter didn't stop there, the other bandits also joined the party by slaughtering the group of goblins with ease. The unarmed goblins stood no chance against the group of men, slashing and bludgeoning them without giving any mercy. The slaughter was quick, and by the time Alina returned to the real world, the goblins were all dead.
"By Conifera, what the hell was that?" Ilya could only ask, she was still too obvious about what just happened.
"They're dead, those goblins are killed by those adventurers," Alina couldn't give any comment.
"Say again?"
"Those adventurers killed the unarmed goblins," Alina pointed her hand at the bloodbath, still recovering from the shock.
Calm down, Alina. This is just a fantasy world, goblins are usually seen as the lowest of creatures, right? They usually raid, pillage, and rape whatever they see, right? They might just be here for an extermination quest.
"Do they look tribal?" Ilya asked again.
Alina then focused her vision back on the blood bath. The goblins were clothes, heck, regular clothes, the same as the ones that Ilya wore, they didn't look tribal either, judging by their clean leather boots and clothing. Heck, those burly men looked way dirtier than those goblins.
Alina shook her head. The men then looted those goblins, finding items such as wallets, smartphones, flashlights, watches, and many other things. They were simply regular goblins but probably modernized.
"No, they look like you and me," Alina answered, confused about how to act.
The moral answer was to intervene with her power, or at the very least, condemn the action, however, she wasn't sure on how Ilya would react. Elf was known to be a snob and quite a supremacist. Ilya might not be too far-fetched from that.
"Fuckers... then they're bandits." Alina then flicked the switch on her rifle. "Weapon's free Alina, they'd probably kill us too if we don't kill them first. I think they also have friends guarding them, stay vigilant."
Alina unsheathed her saber from her Blood Inventory. She then prepared to blitz toward the bandits and then use her Bloody Swing to kill them all in one go.
"Explosion," Ilya whispered.
A bright yellow beam flew out of the barrel of the rifle toward the general direction of where the goblins were located. In an instant, a large explosion blew up the group of men, throwing them off the ground from sheer force alone with a large deafening blast following it.
"What the?" Alina could only open her mouth widely.