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Chapter 9: Stealthy Blade

It skidded back several metres away from him, releasing it from his grip. The black spots that had appeared in Emery's vision gradually began disappearing, but he still hadn't regained any of his senses or mentalities.

"Emery!" Elyn's voice called out next to him, "It hurt you!"

Her voice was so sweet. Had she really come back from saving herself just to save him? He could barely think straight, but he had to snap out of it.

He shot to his feet quickly, trying to ignore the incredible pain, but it was rather difficult.

"Come on, Elyn," he muttered, grabbing a hold of his head with one hand and tugging her with the other one. "Let's get out of here before that thing attacks us again."

She didn't budge.

"What are you doing? That thing is a Class Nine Threat! It will kill the both of us with power to spare!"

Unfortunately for him, the white-haired girl didn't seem to understand that concept.

"No. It hurt you, so we will kill it!"

And then she turned away for him. She kicked off the ground, balling one hand into a fist as she descended on the snake monster.

HISS~!

The creature's eyes constricted, and it also flew into the air, mouth open and fangs ready to bite down on Elyn.

She twisted her body mid-air, and landed on the ground instead, then jabbed upward with her elbow. The blow struck the green-scaled figure, sending it flying upward a few metres back up.

Emery watched dumbfounded as Elyn followed through with another kick into the air and one drop kick to the snake's torso.

Was she actually beating a Class Nine creature right now?

For a moment, he had hope, but that was quickly extinguished by the next thing that happened.

The snake slithered up with little to no problem and stared at both of them with unveiled mockery.

Then it opened its mouth once more to reveal a dark purple liquid that bubbled up.

"Elyn, dodge!"

~SWHIP~

It shot out of the thing's mouth before she could heed his warning, and landed on the girl's right leg soon after

'Shit!'

The purple liquid seeped into her bare brown skin, and not long after patches of purple appeared on her leg.

How was she even supposed to move or react to any of the attacks now?!

[Ding!]

[Your summon is infected with dangerous venom!]

The system announcement didn't help much. How could a chef such as himself even help in a situation like this?

He didn't have the answer to that.

Meanwhile, Elyn didn't stop moving even once. She charged fist first into the snake's path and punched forward.

It slithered to the side and then swiped at her feet with its tail.

HISSS!

Now it was official. Elyn had gotten into its trap. It began constricting her entire body slowly after that. Her body went limp and all the muscles in her body seemed to freeze at the same time.

'Fuck, what should I do?!'

The snake creature didn't seem to notice him as it enjoyed toying with it's prey. But it meant he had one chance.

'My knife? Where's my knife?'

His eyes scanned the entire terrain and found the knife. Except it was directly next to the snake that he needed to kill.

'I was planning to throw it from afar!'

He would still have to do it now. Elyn was dying! He would not allow her to die! Not after she had risked her life for him!

'Come on, you can do this! Just one chance. I just need one chance to end it all!'

So he tossed all those useless thoughts aside and just ran straight for the knife and the snake beast.

He let his arm fall, and the wind blew against the countless dozen injuries that had assailed him. And soon enough he got close enough to the snake that he could hear it breathe in nothing but excitement.

'Now!'

He picked the knife up in one swift movement, then jabbed it into the creature's side!

HISSSS!!

Jackpot!

It let go of Elyn, who fell to her knees. She was in a much better state than he had been, though.

[Ding!]

[New Skill Learned: Stealthy Blade!]

Emery ignored the impromptu notification and looked at the creature once more.

"Elyn, let's end this," he said. It didn't matter, anyway. She would insist on fighting, no matter what he said. So… they might as well just fight!

"Okay, Emery! You aim for the other side too!" she yelled and took to her feet once more.

It was almost as if she hadn't just almost died a second just before.

'Forget about that. I need to focus immediately!'

He did as Elyn said and rushed for the snake's other side. It was still blindsided by the previous attack, so it was only easier.

One shiv and it was enraged once again.

Elyn followed after with multiple punches to Emery's first knifing. But what was that silvery energy?

HISSSSS!!!

Before he even had time to react, the beast roared and reared its large head. Its green scales gradually turned into a pitch-black. Four limbs grew at its torso and its body expanded by quite a bit.

'A fucking dragon!'

This was way out of their league!

"Jeez, so much noise," a voice interrupted.

A figure had suddenly appeared between them and the raging Pseudo-wyvern.

'Who?'

The person had dark hair and wore a bright red coat.

"What were you guys thinking facing an Anomaly at your measly levels?" the person asked, still not looking back at them.

"No matter. I'll just have to deal with it now."

Emery tugged Elyn and did as he was told. Whoever this person was, they clearly weren't weak.

"I bet this will fetch quite a good price with Hemp's little bastards."

****

Author's note: How's everyone finding this so far? Fun fact, I wrote Chapters 7-9 in almost one sitting. I had to take about twenty minutes' worth of breaks total. Tell me your thoughts about the book in the comments below this!


Chapter 10: Barion

The man in the red cloak disappeared. He literally disappeared.

It wasn't a case of moving super fast and leaving everyone's vision. Emery was sure of it, he really disappeared.

Where had he gone?

They got their answer soon as he reappeared next to the giant wyvern and gave it a lacklustre punch to the side.

This seemingly useless punch sent the creature flying back several metres. Then the man walked forward, forming his hand into a small blade-like shape. A curling mist appeared around the man's hand.

Emery held his breath in anticipation to see what the attack did.

An ominous atmosphere engulfed the surroundings at once as the mist curled out, extending its reach across the ground and everywhere else.

"Killer Mist." the man said.

A large spear made from the ethereal substance formed at the man's fingertips, and shot out without delay.

HIIISSS~!

The snake responded. It curled its body back before giving itself one swift launch forward. Purple balls flew out of his wide-open maw, but he dodged each one of the attacks with relative ease.

His spear, though, still maintained its original trajectory. It pinned the large snake to the ground soon after and ended the fight there and then. A large hole had opened at the centre of the snake's guts, but it was still alive.

"For an anomaly, you're quite weak," the man said, walking closer. "If not by virtue of your special race, I would have chalked you up to nothing but a slightly stronger snake."

Emery envied that kind of power, but in his envy, he realized something important.

'I still haven't completed the mission!' he quickly glanced over to the mission timer. 'Twenty-five minutes left. That might have been achievable but not in our fucking present states.'

Elyn sat by his side, weak but barely managing to open both eyes.

He couldn't pass up any chance to grow stronger.

Then he thought of something.

"Sorry, sir, can I be the one to end its life?" he spoke softly, hoping those wouldn't be his last words.

"Hmm?" the man cocked his head and stared pointedly at Emery with his strange dull-grey eyes,. "Weird request, but sure, why not?"

Emery cheered and got up far too quick, but quickly returned to his previously docile state soon enough. Walking proved to be more difficult than he'd expected, but he did so resolutely.

He clutched the kitchen knife as he finally stood in front of the beast.

Right now it seemed so docile, staring with those slitted yellow eyes of it. Not anything like that rearing beast that had almost killed him and Elyn barely five minutes ago.

Its scales had lost their glimmering tint, now covered completely in blood.

If Emery didn't know better, he would just assume this to be one of the Class 10 beasts they had baited to kill. But he wasn't going to allow himself to fall for that delusion. He burned the thought into memory as he lifted the sword.

His humiliation at the creature's hands.

The injuries inflicted on himself and Elyn.

And the power necessary to end creatures like this.

So he burned all those thoughts into his mind…

And then plunged the blade down.

[Ding!]

[Host has Killed a Class Nine Threat!]

[100 Exp awarded!]

[100 exp awarded to host and summon] 

[Level: Two…Exp: 185/300]

[Mission Completed!]

[Criteria exceeded! Bonus rewards being calculated]

[Calculating…Calculating…]

[Ding!]

[Original Rewards: 20 Energy. 150 exp. Random offensive skill.

Recalculated Rewards: 30 energy. 150 exp. Random offensive skill. Specific skill. Job equipment]

[Level: Two…Exp:300/300]

[Ding!]

[Host has levelled up!]

[Summon has levelled up!]

[Rewards will be delivered later]

Emery let out a clearly audible sigh of relief as that happened. Finally.

"I won't ask you why," the man said, interrupting his thoughts, "But best know that others won't be as kind."

The man's red coat flapped slightly in the wind. He flicked his wrist and the corpse of the giant snake floated slightly in the air above him.

Emery recalled something and asked before the man left. "You said you were going to Hemp's men, sir?"

"That's right," he nodded. "I'm in need of a nice gamble to get rid of some steam. Need some credits. Like the Romans used to say, no gambling without money."

He was heading to Hemp's camp, which was a good thing. Now Emery hoped the mind truly was as kind as he acted.

"It might be too much to ask, but can you help us carry a few bodies there too?"

"Sure," the man shrugged again, "Lead the way."

Emery rejoiced happily, but he was stopped by the man's voice soon after.

"I was going to help with that anyway. Your friend looks like she might need some help standing. Really kids and their clothes these days," he shook his head, talking about Elyn's clothes.

Emery ignored that fact and quickly rested his vision on her now unconscious figure.

"I'll do it, sir. Please, I can't let her die."

"Jeez relax kid. She'll be fine. Venom like this usually only causes death after a few hours. And stop calling me sir. I'm only 26. You can just call me Barion."

Emery quickly nodded as he carried the heavy girl across his shoulders. Nothing of his weak physique should have been able to do that, but he somehow managed to log her all the way to the front of the forest where they picked up all the Class Ten corpses.

Barion was chatty.

Extremely so.

He'd never realized how far the city was from the forest until after the conversations he had with Barion in that time.

'I somehow wish I was Elyn right now,' he sighed to himself as they moved along.

Ten minutes later, they finally reached the city. Two minutes after that, they finally reached his short-term destination goal.

Hemp's camp.

After they got the money from here. Everything would finally change.

Everything.

****

Author's Note: Ten chapters but our growth has massively stalled this past day. Come on, we can do it! Reviews and power stones will award extra chapters if you know what I mean xD. Link to the discord server will be in the synopsis soon.


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