"Tch. Shoot their heads off."
Seiko ordered in a restless breath. He tried pushing off the mummies that were piling on top of his body, but they just kept on jumping him, slowly crushing his body. Their rusty claws kept on digging into his skin and he was bleeding. Poison was slowly entering his open body and is lungs were being squeezed.
Jasmine was standing some distance away and she was fiddling with the hand gun Seiko had thrown at her.
"H-How do I shoot with this?"
"Pull the trigger, damn it!"
His tone was abnormally angered. Jasmine just kept looking at the gun. It was a tiny beautiful weapon, light yet carrying a powerful punch. Its barrel was a dull cobalt blue and the handle was a reddish-brown. Jasmine rose it up and pointed it at Seiko after remembering how the young man shot his targets.
"Like this?"
"Yes! But don't point that at me!"
BANG!
It was too late. She had already pressed the trigger. She kept on shooting wild fires, randomly destroying the mummies, all the while shooting a hole in Seiko's forehead. She didn't notice this however, since all she saw were more mummies jumping onto the pile.
"Ugh! Screw your stupid guns!"
She dropped the gun and took out her daggers. They shimmered purple and she pounced on her opponents, slashing without care.
"I'll save you Seiko!"
She yelled and just kept on attacking without rest. She remained there for about an hour, before she managed to dig out Seiko's body and drag him out of there. He was heavily covered in blood and she could hear a sort of crack sound coming from his body. He had broken some bones.
"S-Seiko… you good?"
She put her head to his chest to check for a heartbeat. There was nothing coming. She realized that his body was cold and then she raised her head. Seiko had died and it was because of her.
"Oh no! Seiko! How dare you die on me, you bastard! N-Now, I won't be able to make it to the city."
She cried out, her eyes starting to tear up.
"H-How will I explain this to any one? That lady you were talking about… she'll kill me, won't she?"
The tears streaked down her cheeks, her voice simply echoing through the empty tomb.
"I-I can't just lose my first friend like this."
She put her head to his chest and let out her sobs. Sure, Seiko was rough, but he was definitely Jasmine's first friend. She didn't even know where she came from so she wouldn't know if she had any friends prior, but Seiko was her friend even in her current situation.
Her face felt hot. Probably from fighting for too long. In fact steam was rising up. No. This was too hot to be the result of her fighting too long. She rose her head and backed away from Seiko's body. He was steaming and Jasmine realized that something was happening to his body.
"Ah… Seiko! W-What is this?"
Budum! Budum! Budum!
She could heart heartbeats and it wasn't hers. And nothing in this tomb was alive, so there was only one other thing that could make a heartbeat. Seiko.
The dark-skinned male sat up quickly and he scratched his white hair.
"Uwaa~ I really don't like dying."
He said. He looked around and noticed that Jasmine was simply staring at him. He scowled at her, but she jumped at him.
"You're alive!"
She yelled, but he grabbed her head.
"Do you know how painful it is to die?! You crazy brat!"
"Greash! Shuev're shtill aive!"
She said with a chipper voice even though her head was being crushed by Seiko's incredibly muscular arms.
"Maybe I should kill you here and you'll understa- Wait… did you kill all of those mummies?"
He looked up and noticed mountains of mummies.
"Ywevsh."
"Ah… You… Sigh."
He dropped the girl and stood up.
"Let's hurry up to the teleport gate. We also need to report this."
"You know, a thank you wouldn't kill you!"
_______________________________________
"Damn it. We could have gotten more information out of them had you just held back a little."
Yokino was angry.
"I know, I know. It's not my fault that he touched me."
"Seriously? But you're just a child… No. In fact, with your speed, you should have been able to grab his hand before he touched you."
She said.
"I know you may not believe me, but he actually sped up the fall. It was so shocking I didn't move."
I tried explaining the situation to her, but she wasn't taking it. She sighed and pinched her temple. I noticed that her hair was glowing red, like some kind of light bulb.
"Um… your hair's glowing."
I pointed out and she looked up, completely shocked. Her hair stopped glowing and then turned a dull purple.
"Your hair changes colour?"
I asked her.
"I-I'm not sure. I guess."
"Ha! So you're a clown, huh?"
We just kept walking in the alleyways. Luckily no one had seen her hair change colour so we were still good.
"Shut it, you damned Bird brian!"
I wouldn't point out the fact that she said Brian instead of Brain. Now wasn't the time. I needed to go to where Kawaii was on the map as well as avoid the person tailing us. I sent a message to Yokino using [Telepathy] and she didn't even act differently.
We kept walking in the alley till we got to a corner where I used [Shadow Travel] to reappear on the nearby roof. Yokino on the other hand simply stayed on the ground and kept walking as if nothing happened. She paused, then looked at where I originally was.
"Tori? Tori!? Mistress, where art thou!"
She screamed like a maiden in distress. I sighed and shook my head. I noticed the person who was tailing us. He was a hooded figure. He was a little bit stronger than Gorm, but definitely not as strong as a C rank monster. He seemed to be a swordsman and not an assassin. This would be interesting.
However, then I noticed a rock fall from the building across the one I stood. I looked up and saw someone pointing an arrow at me. Also a cloaked figure with large eyes. I couldn't make out much more about the person.
We both just stared at each other for a while, neither party deciding to make the first move.
***
Yokino had just realized that her hair could glow and thought that she needed to cover it up, since she wasn't sure of how to control it. She attempted to weave a sort of hat in the moment, but then she noticed that she was being trailed.
Hinotori too had realized this, but showing the person tailing them that they knew was not a good sign, so she acted as if she didn't.
"Shut it! You damned, Bird Brian!"
She messed up. Now the chicken would laugh at her for that mistake.
'Oi, eight eyes. I think we're being followed.'
'Yeah. I noticed.'
'Seriously? You're pretty good with these things. Was your job in your former life some kind of security guard?'
'Assassin.'
Yokino's response came after a bit of thinking so Hinotori was confused whether to take that for an actual answer or a teasing one. She took the latter.
The two proceeded to walk as if nothing had happened, but then Hinotori disappeared into the shadows. Yokino saw this as an opportunity. But, now to get into character.
"Tori? Tori? Mistress, where art thou?!"
She yelled at the top of her voice in an impressively convincing manner. She noticed that the person tailing her came out of his hiding spot and was now looking at her from the end of the alley way. He was looking at her restlessly. Yokino turned to him and ran at an average woman's pace, or what she assumed to be that.
"You! H-Have you seen the young mistress?"
She was getting close to him.
"S-she was about this high, was wearing black dress and blonde hair."
She reached out her hand to grab his chest and cry out to him like some sort of desperate mother looking for her daughter, but then there was a large kick that came flying out from behind the guy. However, she had anticipated moves being made, so she brought out one of her spider legs to stab the man in the legs, but then something intercepted her leg.
She looked up and noticed two girls. One was holding her hands and the other her leg. The girls weren't as tall as the man, just a few inches shorter than he was – several shorter than Yokino. They had cat ears sticking out of their heads and tails waggling behind them. Both of their eyes were glowing as they hissed at her.
"She doesn't smell human."
The one holding Yokino's leg said.
"We told you to be careful, stupid hero."
The other complained. The man let out a nervous laugh and Yokino tensed up at the mention of hero. She immediately freed herself from the girl's grasp and flung her somewhere. For the girl holding her leg, another leg came flying, stronger than the first and blasting her away.
"You! If you're the hero, you have to die!"
She yelled in a rage and went for a slice at his neck. After having completely overwhelm the two beast folk with her physical capabilities alone, she assumed a normal human wouldn't be a problem. She quickly changed this notion as he drew his sword with unbelievable speed and almost cut her neck off.
She shot a water spear at him, but he just cut through it with ease.
'D-DANGEROUS!'
All her instincts screamed at her for a split second and then she became cautious with her work. This guy was the hero, meaning she couldn't take him lightly. His movements from earlier confirm that.
"Woah. That was a close one."
He said and charged at Yokino. He swiped at her and she dodged the move as easily as he did. A punch to his gut and the man stumbled back a bit.
Yokino was surprised. Compared to the charisma he gave off earlier, this was underwhelming. She shot a spider web at his eyes, but the force behind the shot was so powerful he was sent flying back.
'Ah… is this the same guy I thought would cut off my neck a second ago?'
She was really disappointed. The beast folk though were up and charged at her from opposite sides.
"I don't want to play with you two, but let's play for only a second, kay?"
Yokino's eyes glowed in the darkness as the two came and passed right through her.
"Interesting. Interesting."
They looked and saw her standing horizontally on a wall.
"Is this how it works?"
They looked down and saw another Yokino standing there and fanning herself. Another appeared next to them and another sitting over Marcus. More and more kept joining till the girls couldn't tell which was which.
"I see. I see. So not even a cat person's sense of smell can evade this magic spell… let's see. I shall name this spell Spider's Webbed Glass."
Yokino had terrible naming sense.
***
'Should I shoot? Or I shouldn't. She doesn't seem dangerous, but she could use teleportation and noticed Marcus tailing her. Would my arrows even hit? How strong is she? Ah whatever. I'll just shoot her if she makes a mo-AH!'
I tapped them on the shoulder after using [Shadow Travel] to appear behind her.
"You… are… right… your… arrows… won't… work."
I told them and they instantly increased the distance between us, shooting a volley of arrows immediately. Not wanting to make noise, I used [Shadow Manipulation] to put up a wall of shadows between me and the arrows, while also grabbing my target's legs and covering her mouth.
'Damn… my control is quite good. Anyway, now to get more answers out of an attacker.'
I wanted to move towards them, but then I noticed something jumping out from behind me. It was a giant of man clothed in a cloak much like the two. He brought down a large battle axe and I stepped to the side, easily avoiding it. I punched his gut causing him to stumble back after a loud clank.
"W-What the hell?"
He exclaimed. I walked up to him and punched his head, creating a large clanking sound and just digging him into the roof.
'T-This bastard… who wears armor this heavy under a cloak and can still evade radar?'
He looked up at me, his black eyes filled with determination. Was this supposed to be a battle of will power?
'Interesting… but no thanks.'
I started to choke him with the shadows. I lifted him off the roof and just looked at him, trying to grasp shadows. Quite the useless attempt to be honest, since one couldn't actually touch darkness, much like how it was logically impossible to touch light.
I looked down and noticed that Yokino was having her own battles. The guy who was chasing us earlier and two other people. They had cat tails. Two beast folk!
'Damn it! Seriously, did I only now see beast folk? And its cat girls!'
She finished them up in no time. I dropped the guy I was choking and went over to the archer. I removed her hood and her silver blonde hair reflected the moon light. Her large blue eyes glared at me, but I couldn't care less. Under other circumstances, I would have been sad to see an elf giving me those eyes. Or maybe I could develop a thing for this… Nope. That'd be weird.
"What… do… you… want?"
I asked her and she just clicked her tongue.
Keimen City, Red Light District
Inside a lavish bar filled with jolly drunkards and women in obscene outfits moving about, serving drinks, sat a man in black with a mask on his face. Grimm Black was his name and everyone had come to fear it. Rumours had it that he wasn't human. Some say he was a beast person, others said a markari. People went so far as saying he was a vampire from the Realm of Eternal Night. If not, at least one of the many terrifying races from there.
Most steered clear of his path. This could be attributed to his reputation as a fine mercenary. One of the best around. Never missed a target. There were even some claiming that they had seen him beat B rank adventurers easily like they were a joke. Some said he could take down the famous Kings of Larm easily if he wanted to. Cold, calculating and quiet. The ultimate assassin.
So when such a person sat next to a beauty, drinking a cup of alcohol and heartily laughing his heart out, it raised suspicion for all those around him. Albeit interested, they refused to let him know that, so they would half-heartedly do what they were doing.
"You know, I've always wondered how you drink with your mask on."
The woman, a fair maiden with cherokee-like skin, a nice figure in a revealing outfit that covered only the bare minimum and cherry red hair braided into a locks said in amusement.
"There's a trick to it… hic… I could show… hic… you."
He said lazily, hiccupping in between words. He kept spinning about and laughing.
"Wow. You're in quite the cheery mood, no? Even having a drink with me out in public."
She took a sip of her cup and smiled brilliantly at him.
"Sorry… hic… about that… hic… but you know w-… hic… why, right?"
Grimm rested his head on the table. His hood fell down, revealing his beautiful silver hair that was a mess. The woman passed her hands right through his hair and caressed him.
"Of course I do, my love."
Her dazzling emerald eyes looked on his image with a gaze of interest, confusion and a hint of tender sweetness. This was a very stunning feature of hers that had many men fawning over her. Even now, Grimm was captivated by them.
"Did I ever tell you that you have the most beautiful eyes?"
"Every single time we meet out in secret, darling. Still, I wonder why we can just meet out like this all of a suddenly."
"Hic… Well, the truth is… hic… I- I wanna get m-"
One of the women working in the bar walked over to their table and put down a tray. She leaned in close and whispered something into Grimm's partner's ears. She sighed and removed her hands from his head.
"Darling, it would seem that you have more work to do. Let's leave this for later, ok?"
Her facial expression was now one of obvious disappointment and anger. She got up from the table and leaned into the man's face. With a kiss to his head, she walked away, her mere steps showing grace and elegance one wouldn't expect a person living in the slumps to possess.
Another figure replaced her seat. It was Maude, her dirty blonde hair was a bit ruffled and she was huffing heavily.
Grimm looked up at her, although it wasn't easy to know that. His lack of words and calm, paced breathing would have lead anyone to believe that he was fast asleep. However not Maude. She knew this guy like the back of her palm.
She took out her hand and removed the thick gloves covering them. She sliced open a wound in her palm and blood dripped onto the table. On lookers just observed quietly, causing the whole room to turn silent, all eyes hungry for information on what would happen next.
Grimm stood up abruptly, causing his chair to fly off, same for some tiny black balls which rolled all around the room.
"W-What are th-"
Just as someone asked, the balls caused an explosion of black smoke which blinded everyone.
"S-Smoke bombs?!"
"What the hell!?"
In the midst of the confusion, the duo had snuck out of the room and were currently at the roof of the building. Maude was stunned by the sudden change in environment, but when she looked up, all she saw was a hunched up Grimm puking his guts out.
She sighed and wiped the blood off her hand, before wearing her gloves again.
"How are you still not used to it?"
She stood up and dusted herself.
"Gaaaaaahhhhhh…. *HIISSSSS*."
She noticed the hissing sound and looked up at him. From the corner of his face, she noticed the red eyes glowing violently and staring at her hungrily. His mask wasn't on his face anymore. Slowly stumbling towards her caused her to reflexively put her hand to the sword on her hilt. Grimm however stopped in front of the mask and picked it up, wearing it quickly and calming himself.
"Phew… for a second there I thought you were going to g-"
Before she could finish that sentence, her body was lifted over the ground. Grimm was grasping her collar and growling angrily.
"Damn it, Maude! How many times?! How many damned times do I have to tell you not to pull such stunts before you realise that showing me blood will be the end of you? You'll die one of these days you know?"
While looking angrily at her, he noticed her eyes were expressionless, with a blank smile on her face.
"Didn't we already agree that we were going to die anyways after what would come next?"
His grasp on her collar loosened and he slowly lost his temper.
"He… I thought you knew that I already died before, so you doing so wouldn't really affect me."
Having been dropped, Maude promptly straightened her shirt. The air around them both was a bit awkward, but this wasn't the first time they had argued like this about this very matter, so it quickly cleared up.
"So? What did you want?"
"Sorry for ruining your date, but it would seem like some monsters are in the city."
"Huh? So why are you telling me? You know I don't care about Adventurer stuff anymore."
"True… except that this isn't adventurer stuff. The city's Adventurer Guild doesn't even know of its appearance."
"Hmm? Get to the point."
"Well… this is a sort of unfinished business for you. Remember when you sent that squad into Larm to retrieve the experiment?"
"Ah… the monster that markari spoke of?"
"Yep. I got reports of such a creature appearing through a portal gate in Old Co's Bar."
"Tch… am I supposed to go subjugate them?"
"No… just watch it. It could prove useful to my plans. If possible scout its strength too."
Grimm scratched his head and walked towards the edge of the roof.
"Anything else?"
"Nope. Just make sure not to confront it."
After receiving that order, Grimm jumped off the roof.
"Oi! Get me off here first! It's freezing cold ya bastard! Grimm?! Oi! Oi! Get back here!"
Her screams just went out into the cold night. Some noticed her and threw their empty bottles at her to shut her up.
------------------------------------
"We didn't mean to startle you guys. We just wanted to talk to you."
The elf in front of me said. She looked quite distressed. Since she wasn't human, I assumed I could just use [Telepathy] without raising any suspicion.
'Why?'
Her eyes widened after hearing my voice in her head, but they calmed down.
"Y-You're searching for someone, right?"
'Ulva.'
I dug my leg into her stomach.
'Where are you keeping my sister?'
"W-We don't have your sister!"
She grunted out the words. With her skill set, escape from me was practically impossible. Stalling for time was useless since I had proved to her that sneak attacks were useless against me. I even used [Devil's Miasma] in order to scare the answer out of her.
"P-Please… I-I d-don't know."
She begged, crying in front of me. I almost wondered what she was seeing to break her morale so quickly.
I dropped her then looked at her unconscious partner. She kept shivering on the ground and I moved on to Yokino.
'Yokino. Did you find anything from him?'
I got no response. I moved to edge of the building and looked down. She wasn't there. Even on my map, I couldn't track her. Her sudden disappearance got me so angry I just snapped and my magical aura burst.
'Damned spider. Now isn't the time for pranks!'
I was just going to leave them there, but then the guy from before called out to me.
"Hey! Tori, right?!"
I moved to his side quickly and looked him in the eye.
"How… do… you… know… my… name?"
I asked and even though he was blindfolded, I could sort of sense a bit of fearlessness from him.
"We know where she is. Your sister."
I tore apart the web from his eyes and he screamed in a bit of pain. I grabbed his shirt and brought him down to my eye level once again.
"Go… on…"
I ordered and he looked down.
"Hehe… can't I just see you without your mask?"
He said then I just punched him in the face, certain that I knocked him out. I let out a sigh and looked around. Their organized attack made me assume that they were working together. And they knew about Ulva, meaning I couldn't just ignore them here. So I shoved them all into the spatial storage that the suit carried and decided to find somewhere to hide out for the night till they all woke up.
I ended up moving about the entire night and even stumbled upon the red light district of the town. They didn't pay any attention to me since I was a little girl, although there were some drunk weirdos like that.
Someone eventually came up and asked why I was standing there. They were two succubi carrying bottles of wine. They said they had been sent to go buy the wine for some clients. Why they told me this? I had no idea, but I decided to ask where I could find an inn. They pointed me in the right direction, so I managed to get to an inn. They even gave me two silver coins to get myself a nice apartment for the night.
I was really weirded out, but I simply took it and moved, so I rented out a room for one night in a sort of luxurious inn. I got myself a really comfortable room at the top floor of the building and even some people came to attend to me with nice room service.
At first, I was suspicious, but after piecing one and two together, I realized that the two women from before thought I was a little succubus, so they were trying to be friendly with me. I was surprised that they would go out of their way to give me two silver coins though. That felt abnormally generous.
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