Acting scared, I took a few steps back, my eyes half focused on the map, waiting for Tristan to come at me. And just like I wanted, he took a few steps ahead while Julia stood there, letting him come at me.
"What are you talking about? When did I do that?" I asked with a serious voice carrying a bit of horror in it. For now let's go with 'scared but putting a brave front' kind of expression, hopefully that would put his guard down a little.
As Tristan moved forward, my eyes widened a little. By the location of the green dot, I was able to predict who the doppleganger. But it wasn't what I was expecting.
Tristan was the one.
'I thought for sure it was Julia,' I sighed in relief thinking it was the right choice to figure out who was the one before using the skill.
[You have Marked [Tristan Brown(?)] as the target of your [Hunt!]. All stats will be increased by 50 when fighting against Tristan!]
With that the Hunt skill was now on cooldown.
My eyes scaled Tristan from top to bottom, before I looked at Julia who was observing me with the same smirk as before. It was irritating but… I needed to see something first. Something that I was only 50% sure of.
As I was collecting my thoughts, Tristan vanished from his original spot before appearing right in front of me. It wasn't speed… it was more akin to Teleportation. Which made me deeply focus on him…
'I shouldn't drag this,' I thought as I used [Blood Gaze!] on him before taking out my dagger as well. As I attacked, I realized I was slower than him, even with using my two skills, I was a little slower than him.
Just how high are his stats?
He smirked at my attempt, while I attacked him with the dagger. I could see his dagger reaching my neck, while mine was still half a hand's breadth away.
"Too slow-," he spoke as his dagger touched my neck before mine could reach him. But then again.
[You have been attacked!]
[Absolute Nullification!]
[The first attack has been nullified!]
And the smile that I was hiding came out unintentionally while I activated another one of my skills.
[Aura!]
[200 MP has been consumed!]
[+800 Attack!]
-Slash!
[You have marked [Tristan(?)] as one of the Markers on your Map]
My dagger cut his neck half of his neck, as he was barely able to step back. And then he vanished again from his spot, appearing a few meters ahead.
-Thud!
He fell on the ground as he looked at me with his eyes opened up wide. Unable to move his body, he was half shocked. I could see him trying his best to move his body as he wriggled but it was futile.
'It was a good idea to add the [Paralysis!] to the dagger,' I gave myself a thumbs up. Good thinking on my part.
"Im-poss-ibl-e… It-can't-be," shocked he observed me, while he tried his best to fight against the paralysis effect.
His eyes turned purple before he looked at Julia and shouted," Kill-"
-Slash!
But then I cut his tongue in a single slash before I looked at him like a scum. Observing the still smirking Julia who was simply observing us, I sighed. I should have realized something was wrong when they were trying to pick a fight with me for no reason before.
I observed that doppleganger for a few moments before…
"I would have loved to 'converse' with you about a couple of things but… oh well…" I spoke with an uninterested gaze. He certainly possesses quite a bit of intelligence, so he should have some information that could be useful. Too bad, I couldn't risk it either way.
He seemed to be begging me as he looked at me with those horrified eyes. Though I simply walked closer to him and…
[You have killed a monster: Doppelganger (D-grade)!]
[+2000 GM points!]
[Hidden Quest Complete!]
[+10,000 Points!]
The shape of that monster changed back into a ugly black goo, before slowly spreading on the floor. I walked a few steps back to avoid getting my shoes dirty, while I wondered what happened to the real Tristan?
-Thud!
And then I saw Julia falling to her knees, before her expression changed from previously smirking, to horrified and terrorized. In a frenzy, she slowly held her hair, as a maddening look appeared on her face.
Like a waterfall tears began appearing in her eyes, she then covered her mouth by reflex.
-Blergh!
She vomited.
-Blergh! Cough! Cough!
She vomited more. Even traces of blood were appearing in her vomit. Tears dropped out of her eyes like waterfall, as then she began crying a bit louder.
"Ah- Aah- AAAAAAA!! NO! Blergh!! Blergh!! Aaaa… Aaaa…"
Her breathing became irregular, as she tried to scream, but she couldn't. The pain was messing with her senses. Her memories of what she might have seen, they were surfacing one by one, breaking her again. Churning her from the inside.
-Drizzle! Drizzle! Drizzle!
And drops of water fell from the sky, slowly as the rain came blessing this pitiful situation. At first it was light, before it began pouring more, enough to cover the muddled cry of Julia.
"Aaa… Tristan… Reyan… No… Aaaaa…. Aaaa… " She shouted with a weak voice, her body barely able to keep it together. She looked in the air in daze before vomiting again, this time with a lot of blood in it.
The water washed that blood away, while her clothes were now soaked. Her tied up hair, was opened up when she held them before, now they were messy with the rain water pouring all over her.
Heavier got the rain, covering the voice of the broken girl, who wanted to break into pieces but was struggling not to. I could see her cries, and the tears between the dozens of water drops. Turning slowly towards me, she observed my face with that broken cry of hers.
She opened her mouth, as if trying to call my name. I could see that she was speaking to me but the rain was louder than her voice. Giving it a bit of thought, I decided to move towards her. But before I could do so her eyes slowly turned blank as she passed out of the pain. While I could only observe her with an expression filled with pity.
'I guess, Reyan might be dead too then,' I sighed before moving towards her, reaching her, wiping a bit of the vomit on her lips and hand with a cloth before picking her up, and then slowly walking back down.