*Clang!*
"RUN!"
"SAVE THE WOMEN! THE CHILDREN!"
"MOMMY!!!"
"LAYLA!"
"AGNES! YOU'RE BLEEDING! S—SHE'S LOSING TOO MUCH BLOOD! WE HAVE NO CHANCE!" A woman's voice shouted at a man while she clasped her friend's wound with tears forming in her eyes. The man clad in armor, approached her with his sword now in its sheath and shook her intently.
"Pull yourself together! We trained our whole lives for this, and you'll give up now?!" The man reprimanded his comrade. "Zaylan! Quia's right! Agnes is dying and I can't heal her up in time! She took a direct hit from Sekra!" A beastman in white robes answered in fear.
The best way to describe their situation right now is that they are currently in an all-out war. A war with a devastating loss. And the battlefield wasn't the most suitable place either. It was, after all, the town square. The amount of bodies that are littering the streets is astounding and nothing but heartbreaking. Countless men, women, and children's lives were claimed. And the only hope the survivors have is the party of heroes who seem to already be on the losing side. A comical situation considering they are only facing one person.
"EVERYONE, THIS WAY TO SAFETY!" A man with a mask announced to the panicking crowd, signaling them with his shaky hands. "C-Calm down, Trygg!" he whispered to himself nervously amidst the noise.
"Fufu, pathetic. Tell me, heroes. How long do we have to squish, step, and crush your hopeless little dreams to make you realize that we are supreme?" A stunningly beautiful woman with dark bat wings on her back asked the person wearing the steel armor.
She was floating in the air and had a dark aura blanketing her whole presence. She wore a semi-transparent silk dress that perfectly emphasized her breathtaking curvatures. Her long purple hair rested effortlessly on her shoulders as she looked at the hero's party, eyes reeking of condescension.
"Shut your trap, Sekra! You devil woman!" One of the heroes shouted. It was a mage. He was holding a metal staff that had a huge crimson stone floating on it. However, instead of wearing something like a robe like a usual mage, he was wearing baggy pants and was half-naked, showing off his lean muscular build, a far-off expectation of what a mage should look like.
But his unusual attire soon made sense when he leaped through the air and suddenly pointed his staff at the woman before chanting and activating a spell. Immediately, the hair on his head and his arms combusted into flames as his staff turned into a red spear with an incredibly sharp end. He then created a magic circle behind him and positioned his body to kick it, shooting himself to the winged woman.
Before they would crash into each other the mage's speed suddenly came to a halt right in front of Sekra.
Doing a simple yet strong flick of his wrist with the hand he was holding the spear in, he smashed his weapon, which had been covered in fire, right above Sekra's head. However, Sekra only smirked before lifting her right arm, holding the spear's blazing sharp end like it was nothing. But the force of the mage's attack was no joke as his strike made the previously floating Sekra sink her feet to the floor.
"Quite the strange mage you are." Sekra calmly stated, visibly suffering no injuries over the man's attempt to defeat her. "Strong. But not strong enough," She added, flapping her demonic wings, causing a strong gush of wind to appear which extinguished both the flame on the man's body and spear and almost sent the man and his party flying. If he hadn't thrust his spear onto the ground for support and made a barrier before his party members, all of them would definitely be on the other side of the square.
"Don't let your guard down, bitch!" A woman with a bow said before firing a really bright arrow at the winged woman. "Oh, I haven't," Sekra said as she caught the arrow with her hand perfectly. With the arrow in her palm, she looked at it before glancing at the archer.
Lifting her foot, she kicked the mage who quickly blocked it by crossing his arms, sending him flying to a nearby small and empty house, destroying it entirely. Sekra then crushed the arrow with her bare hand, pulled the spear from the ground, and said "You could've killed me with that sweetie." before firing the mage's spear at the archer.
With her eyes full of shock and her body too slow to react, the archer saw her life flash before her eyes. Unexpectedly, the spear suddenly stopped midair and flew to the mage who quickly grasped it with the flames on his body now rekindled. Emerging from the debris, he said "You seriously thought I would have a spear as a weapon without charming it a homing spell? Get a grip, old hag."
Hearing his words, Sekra's body shook, and her long black nails grew longer in the blink of an eye.
"What did you just call me?" Sekra spat angrily, turning her head at the mage. Strands of her hair are now slowly floating in the air as spiraling horns grow on the sides of her head. Her purple pupils are now turning red and the white part of her eyes are starting to turn black.
"GREAT JOB, SEHD! YOU MADE HER ANGRY!" The woman who was holding her bleeding friend shouted at the mage.
Coughing up blood, Agnes, her friend, smiled bitterly and said, "Quia, I'm literally dying here, please focus on finding a health potion."
Now, thanks to Sehd, they have an enraged demon in their midst. It was already hard enough to defeat Sekra when she was calm but now that she's angered, it's a whole different story.
Slowly opening her mouth she licked her lips and activated her magic. However, before she could even showcase her powers, Sekra suddenly halted her actions. Out of nowhere, a smiling mouth with bat-like wings on it appeared behind her.
Slowly turning her attention to the newfound presence behind her, her anger doubled instantly. "CAN'T YOU SEE THAT I'M FUCKING BUSY!?" Sekra shouted at the fluttering mouth who bared a huge smile. But it just ignored her, flew to her ear, and whispered something. She stood there for a few seconds until her angered state slowly disappeared. Her horns are now sinking to her skull and her eyes are becoming normal. She flipped her head at the heroes which made them flinch and then said, "Seems like something came up. I have to go now, my dears!" before disappearing by bursting into black smoke along with the flying mouth.
With Sekra's sudden missing presence, the whole battlefield was enveloped in silence.
Until someone cleared their throat. "Ehem, did we win—?"
*DING!* *DONG!*
The church's bell rang. It was so loud that everyone felt the soundwaves vibrating through the air.
"T-THE CHURCH! TAKE AGNES TO THE CHURCH! THEY CAN HEAL HER THERE!" The beastman in white robes exclaimed as the loud ringing of the bells echoed through the town. "Y-Yes!" Quia answered, carrying Agnes on her back before sprinting her to safety. "Z-Zaylan..." The beastman in white mumbled as he turned his head to his comrade. "You go ahead with Quia, Erelim. We'll stay and retrieve the bodies." Zaylan said, assuring Erelim, their healer. Erelim smiles bitterly at his friend before running to Quia to help her carry Agnes.
Jumping from the roof of one of the houses, the archer walked to Zaylan before she opened her mouth and asked, "What do you think's happening, Zaylan?"
"I don't know, Serra. But considering that the church bell hasn't rung in decades, I hope it's not bad news." He answered meaningfully as the wind brushed through his dark hair.
******
"Mmmh..."
"Oh! Elaira, you woke up!" an energetic voice greeted me the moment I opened my eyes.
What happened? Did I faint from exhaustion? I remember— OH THAT'S RIGHT! I KILLED THAT MOTHERFUCKING SPIDER BITCH ASS HOE!!!
"WISTERIA, WHERE IS THE BODY??? DID NO ONE TAKE IT? AM I GO... ing to eat...? Where... are we?" I asked excitedly before trailing off after noticing the bright sky and the fact that I was being dragged by both Lux and Wisteria deeper into the forest, far from the cave where I killed the spider. I'm currently lying on a big leaf that's tied by light ropes at the end of it, which both of my adopted children pulled. Wisteria was pulling the rope over her shoulder and Lux had it tied to his tiny body.
This... this is child labor!
I will not settle for this!
Not until I have a child of my own to help me degrade them for being adopted even though it's my choice to take them in!
Wait, no!
That's not important. My kill!
"Oh... the spider..." Wisteria answered nervously before explaining what happened during my well-deserved beauty sleep. According to this doe-eyed little angel, after defeating it, the spider's body turned into ashes and its blood burned like oil before disappearing like my dad the moment he found out my mom was pregnant.
And while this happened, they were both panicking as to what to do and how to get our asses out. Thankfully Lux knew the way out and helped Wisteria drag me out of the cave. Of course, I could tell that this was true because Lux, who I believe can never lie, had been nodding all the while Wisteria was telling the story. And now, a few hours have passed since that epic life-changing event last night happened so these two already dragged me pretty far.
"Okay, thank you for being honest with me, honey. Now since you kids carried (dragged) me out of the cave to wherever you two are planning to take me, allow me to return the favor." Sweeping Wisteria up with a light shield, I made her sit down to let her rest. Whisking myself up too, I sat down and floated forward. I tried to do the same to Lux but he would just float to me no matter how many times I told him to rest. Seems like his species have lots of stamina. Heck, this kid could probably have no stamina to spend at all!
Good thing Wisteria listened to me after I told her she needed to rest when she tried to reason that she wasn't tired at all. How am I supposed to believe that? She's a growing child! She needs to be taken care of, not the other way around. Plus she's more like making me feel like a big sister than a mother so I kinda wanna spoil her.
Also, thankfully, the name of the forest we were in wasn't true to what it's called. When I read "Dark Forest" for the first time after I used my inspect skill on a tree, I almost shitted bricks. I thought that, according to its name, this forest might be covered in magic and is always at night. Right now it's probably 8 or 7 am in the morning due to the present dew drops on the grass. The birds are chirping and are very lively which makes me smile.
Damn, a sip of morning coffee is perfect right now. Well, not that I drank coffee in my past life so who am I kidding?
"So, Wisteria! Where were we headed originally?" I asked my winged companion who's been awfully quiet after I made her take a rest. I hope she says we're headed to her tribe 'cause based on my current quest, I'm supposed to be going there.
*Ding!*
[Current Quests]:
• [Hunt and eat 10 prey]: [Progress: 2/10]
[Reward]: [5000 exp]
• [Let Lux reach level 10]: [Progress: 1/20]
[Reward]: [Skill: Shared Senses Lv1]
• [Reach level 50]: [Progress: 3/50]
[Reward]: [Larvalith stage]
• [Story Quest: [The Fairies and the Traitor]
[Reward/s]: [???]
Yep, my most doable quest right now is the story quest. I don't know whose story it is though. Probably mine. I saw earlier that I'm supposed to heal the world. Now that is a burden. I hope it's something I can achieve easily. However, I wouldn't mind it being challenging though with that mysterious reward making things exciting.
"Oh! We're walking away from my tribe!" Wisteria answered happily.
You know, I'm quite glad that she's answering me with less nervousness now and it makes me happy that she's starting to become comfortable with me but HOLY FUCKS! WE'RE STRAYING AWAY FROM MY QUEST!
"Wis— you know what? How about we call you... Eri! Okay, Eri, why are we staying away from your tribe?" I asked her calmly. I hope she doesn't mind me giving her nicknames, my best friend used to call me Ellie and it made me very glad 'cause I felt closer to her so I'm hoping Wis— I mean, Eri feels the same too.
"Eri... hehe... o—oh... uh yeah! That's because there are bad fairies there!" She answered with a huge smile.
Bad fairies? What does she mean by that? Are they evil? Dark fairies, perhaps? Have the "bad things" also claimed them? Have they been—
Suddenly the image of the spider turning into the Arachne flashed through my head. The view of the whole thing transforming in front of us, sprouting a human upper torso, and its power being doubled on the spot made me shudder.
I—I'll just ask her...
"Bad fairies?" I inquired. I hope her answer is far from what I'm thinking. Because if it is, I might just think that the system is definitely trying to kill me.
"Yes! Bad fairies! I know they're bad because they wanted the Cave Guardian to eat me. They said if I was taken, the Cave Guardian would leave the tribe alone. I told them I didn't want to be spider food but they didn't listen... so they're bad fairies!" Wisteria answered with angered determination.
She looked both sad and upset about the whole thing which made me realize that she's actually better than me because if I were her I would have come back and burned the whole place to the ground.
But what? Did she just say that the tribe offered her as a sacrifice?
Oh!
What the fuck! No, seriously— WHAT THE FUCK?!
"Sweetie, can you tell me which way your tribe is?" I asked sweetly. This lovely child has been through so much! I would not let anything hurt her! And realizing that she's trusting a worm more than her own kind is making my blood boil.
I know it's not my business but I will not stand this "sacrifice" bullshit. Just imagining these idiots sacrificing more children to that hideous spider before I killed it fuels my anger.
"Why? But they're bad..." She said gloomily. Probably remembering the moment she was given to the spider. Fuck, she must still be feeling that sense of betrayal in her heart! This poor baby!
"To get back at them, of course!" I said cheerfully, in contrast to the raging anger I'm currently suppressing. Wisteria only looked at me intently before asking, "Why?" which made me grin at her.
"Eri, sometimes you gotta let people know that they've wronged you. There are a few ways to do this. Revenge is one of them." I said to her like a grandma full of wisdom through the years. Revenge might be wrong because you can't undo a wrong with another wrong but who actually gives a fuck? The Gods? Not my problem then.
"B-But revenge is bad, right?" Eri said with worry in her eyes. Damn, this too much innocence is making my conscience hurt.
"Yes, but they're bad, aren't they? Let me tell you something. Eri, you should know that there are times when someone only speaks one language, and since you are kind, you gotta speak that same language to make them understand what you mean. The same rule applies to bad people doing bad things." I advised (gaslighted) the poor girl.
She needs to learn now that letting horrible creatures learn of their wrongdoings is kindness in itself and you won't be branded as the villain if you're the one who killed the monster that's terrorizing the town.
"Okay... I'll point you in the direction where my tribe is..." Eri said gloomily. I know it's weighing on her but she honestly shouldn't worry about it. I'll be the one who'll do the dirty work after all!
Soon, Eri turned her body around, lifted her arm, and pointed in a certain direction. "Hold on tight, people!" Taking this as my cue, I bolted our floating shield to a wild ride.
******
"THIS IS SO EXCITING!" A girl in a black dress screamed in pure joy while she slammed both of her hands on the table in front of her. She wore a huge smile on her face as she pants heaved heavy breaths of pure delight. She was sitting on a dining chair facing a huge dining table. In front of her were people who bore different appearances. Some of them wouldn't even have the privilege to be called "people" or a "person" with how they look. Some had horns, some had dark tentacles squirming behind them and there was even someone who looked see-through. Though, oddly, they all shared humanoid structures.
There were seven of these beings in total and one of them was the ecstatic little girl.
The whole place was dark and had a chandelier with only candles to light it. It was the only thing that provided them light along with the lamps that were connected to the walls which were pretty dim. The whole room was full of unbearable tension that was thick enough to be sliced through. These people seemed to be waiting for something. Perhaps, someone.
Shortly after this question was answered by a young man who wore what seemed to be the dark clothing a priest would wear. A cassock.
"The King of the Damned is making his entrance."
He entered the room where these people were waiting with such a demeanor that the once-sat individuals stood up instantly to greet him. "WE GREET THE KING OF THE DAMNED!" In unison, they shouted authoritatively. The young man, who looked like he was in his twenties, was holding what appeared to be a book covered in sacred ambiance in his arms. He had a cheerful smile on his lips which wasn't what one would expect a person would do when faced with such atrocities.
He took the only seat at the end of the dining table and signed the standing people to have their sit. Complying with his silent order, they all sat down promptly. In mere moments, the whole room was enveloped in silence. And in less than seconds, the quietness was broken.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" The young man asked in anger, his face contorting in rage. His bellowing voice echoed through the confinement of the enclosed room, enhancing the animosity of his absolute authority. All his seated subjects flinched and jumped in fear as they shook in terror at their king's wrath.
"P-Please forgive me, my liege!" A man who visibly had glowing molten rocks as the skin on his body suddenly appeared and bowed down in terror beside his ruler. Cold sweat dripped from his lowered forehead.
Heaving a sharp breath, the King of the Damned turned his chair to face his groveling subject. "Quite amusing that you knew you were the bastard who let such a hideous creature reside in your domain. Is this an insult?" The king asked and stood up promptly before raising his fist, preparing to end the insolent insect he was looking down on.
However, before he can even land his blow, his secretary who looked the most human of them all boldly clears her throat and says, "Sire, the church has officially taken notice of its existence." To which the king only turned his head to her as he dropped his arms calmly. He then smiled cheerfully and prompted the kneeling man back to his feet.
The man, who could not even lift his head, only trembled in fright. Patting the guy on the shoulder, the king whispered happily, "Deal with this shit, would you?"
"Y-Yes, my liege!" the man answered almost immediately.
"Good! You know we can't have another Spark, right?"